Hi 


• 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL: 

CONTAINING 

HIS  ORIGINAL  ;    A  STATE   OF  HIS   CIRCUMSTANCES  J    HIS   CONDUCT, 
PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  J  THE  VARIOUS  TURNS  OF   HIS  AFFAIRS 
FROM  ADAM   DOWN   TO    THIS  PRESENT  TIME  J    THE    VA- 
RIOUS   METHODS    HE    TAKES    TO    CONVERSE    WITH 
MANKIND  J    WITH  THE  MANNER  OF  HIS  MAK- 
ING  WITCHES,  WIZARDS,  AND    CONJUR- 
ERS J    AND  HOW  THEY  SELL  THEIR 
SOULS     TO     HIM,    ETC.    ETC.  J 

THE   WHOLE 

INTERSPERSED  WITH  MANY  OF  THE  DEVIL'S  ADVENTURES. 

TO   WHICH    IS   ADDED  » 

A  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  DEVIL'S  DWELL- 
ING, CALLED  HELL. 


BY    DEFOE, 
AUTHOR  OP  'ROBINSON  CRUSOE,'  'THE  KINGDOM  OP  LILLIPUT,'  ETC. 


Bad  as  he  is,  the  Devil  may  be  abused, 

Be  falsely  charged,  and  causelessly  accused  ; 

When  men,  unwilling  to  be  blamed  alone, 

Shift  off  the  crimes  on  him,  which  are  their  own. 


SIXTH   EDITION. 


BOSTON: 

PRINTED    BY    DOW    &   JACKSON. 
1845. 


Stereo ty  ped   by 

GEORGE   A.   CURTIS; 

NEW  ENGLAND  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY. 


PREFACE. 


"  THIS  sixth  edition  of  the  History  of  the  Devil? 
besides  large  impressions  of  the  first,  second,  third 
and  fourth,  is  a  certificate  from  the  world  *of  its  gene- 
ral acceptation ;  so  that  we  need  not,  according  to  the 
custom  of  modern  editors,  boast  of  it  without  evidence, 
or  tell  a  f — b  in  its  favor. 

"  The  subject  is  singular,  and  it  has  been  handled 
after  a  singular  manner.  The  wise  part  of  the  world 
has  been  pleased  with  it,  the  merry  part  has  been 
diverted  with  it,  and  the  ignorant  part  has  been  taught 
by  it ;  none  but  the  malicious  part  of  the  world  has 
been  offended  at  it.  Who  can  wonder  then,  that 
when  the  Devil  is  not  pleased,  his  friends  should  be 
angry  ? 

"  The  strangest  thing  of  all  is,  to  hear  Satan  com- 
plain that  the  story  is  handled  profanely.  But  who 
can  think  it  strange,  that  his  advocates  should  be, 
what  he  was  from  the  beginning  ? 

"The  author  affirms,  and  has  good  vouchers  for  it 
(in  the  opinion  of  such  whose  judgment  passes  with 
him  for  an  authority,)  the  whole  tenor  of  the  work  is 
solemn,  calculated  to  promote  serious  religion,  and 
capable  of  being  improved  in  a  religious  manner.  But 
he  does  not  think,  that  we  are  bound  never  to  speak 
of  the  Devil  but  with  an  air  of  terror,  as  if  we  were 
always  afraid  of  him. 


M368163 


IV  PREFACE. 

"It  is  evident  the  Devil,  as  subtle  and  as  frightful 
as  he  is,  has  acted  the  ridiculous  and  foolish  part,  as 
much  as  most  of  God's  creatures,  and  daily  does  so. 
And  he  cannot  believe  it  is  any  sin  to  expose  him  for  a 
foolish  devil,  as  he  is,  or  show  him  to  the  world,  that 
he  may  be  laughed  at. 

"  Those  who  think  the  subject  not  handled  with 
gravity  enough,  have  all  the  room  given  them  in  the 
world  to  handle  it  better ;  and  as  the  author  professes 
he  is  far  from  thinking  his  piece  perfect,  they  ought 
not  to  be  angry,  that  he  gives  them  leave  to  mend  it. 

"  He  has  had  the  satisfaction  to  please  some  readers, 
and  to  see  good  men  approve  it ;  and  for  the  rest,  as 
my  Lord  Rochester  says,  in  another  case, 

He  counts  their  censure  fame. 

"  As  for  a  certain  reverend  gentleman,  who  is  pleased 
gravely  to  dislike  the  work,  (he  hopes,  rather  for  the 
author's  sake  than  the  Devil's;)  he  only  says,  Let  the 
performance  be  how  it  will,  and,  the  author  what  he 
will,  it  is  apparent  he  has  not  yet  preached  away  all 
his  hearers. 

"  It  is  enough  for  me  (says  the  author)  that  the 
Devil  himself  is  not  pleased  with  my  work,  and  less 
with  the  design  of  it ;  let  the  Devil  and  all  his  fellow 
complainers  stand  on  one  side,  and  the  honest,  well- 
meaning,  charitable  world,  who  approve  my  work, 
on  the  other." 


CONTENTS 


PART  I. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAOB. 

Introduction  to  the  whole  work, 

CHAPTER  II. 

Of  the  word  Devil,  as  it  is  a  proper  name  to  the  Devil,  and  any  or 
all  his  host,  angejs,  &c., 17 

CHAPTER   III. 

Of  the  original  of  the  Devil ;  who  he  is,  what  he  was  before  his 
expulsion  out  of  heaven,  and  in  what  state  he  was  from  that 
time  to  the  creation  of  man, 25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Of  the  name  of  the  Devil,  his  original,  and  the  nature  of  his  cir- 
cumstances since  he  has  been  called  by  that  name,  .  .  .30 

CHAPTER    V. 

Of  the  station  Satan  had  in  heaven  before  he  fell ;  the  nature  and 
original  of  his  crime  •  and  some  of  Mr.  Milton's  mistakes  about 
it, 50 

CHAPTER    VI. 

What  became  of  the  Devil,  and  his  host  of  fallen  spirits,  after 
their  being  expelled  from  heaven :  and  his  wandering  condition 


VI  CONTENTS. 

till  the  creation  ;  with  some  more  of  Mr.  Milton's  absurdities  on 
that  subject, 60 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Of  the  number  of  Satan's  host ;  how  they  came  first  to  know  of 
the  new-created  worlds  now  in  being :  and  their  measures  with 
mankind  upon  the  discovery, 67 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Of  the  power  of  the  Devil  at  the  time  of  the  creation  of  this 
world ;  whether  it  has  not  been  farther  straitened  and  limited 
since  that  time  ;  and  what  shifts  and  stratagems  he  is  obliged 
to  make  use  of  to  compass  his  designs  upon  mankind,  .  .  74 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Of  the  progress  of  Satan  in  carrying  on  his  conquest  over  man- 
kind, from  the  fall  of  Eve  to  the  deluge, 87 

CHAPTER    X. 

Of  the  Devil's  second  kingdom  ;  and  how  he  got  footing  in  the 
renewed  world  by  his  victory  over  Noah  and  his  race,  .  .  102 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Of  God's  calling  a  church  out  of  the  midst  of  a  degenerate  world ; 
and  of  Satan's  new  measures  upon  that  incident.  How  he  at- 
tacked them  immediately,  and  his  success  in  those  attacks,  .  125 


PART   II. 

CHAPTER    I. 
The  Introduction, 152 

CHAPTER  II. 

Of  hell,  as  it  is  represented  to  us ;  and  how  the  Devil  is  to  be  un- 
derstood as  being  personally  in  hell,  when  at  the  same  time  we 
find  him  at  liberty  ranging  over  the  world,  .  .  .  .163 

CHAPTER    III. 

Of  the  manner  of  Satan's  acting  and  carrying  on  his  affairs  in  this 
world ;  and  particularly  of  his  ordinary  workings  in  the  dark, 
by  possession  and  agitation, 171 


CONTENTS.  Vll 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Of  Satan's  agents  or  missionaries,  and  their  actings  upon  and  in 
the  minds  of  men  in  his  name, 179 

CHAPTER    V. 

Of  the  Devil's  management  in  the  Pagan  hierarchy  by  omens, 
entrails,  augurs,  oracles,  and  such  like  pageantry  of  hell ;  and 
how  they  went  off  the  stage  at  last  by  the  introduction  of  true 
religion, 193 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Of  the  extraordinary  appearance  of  the  Devil,  and  particularly  of 
the  cloven  foot, 204 

CHAPTER    VII. 

"Whether  is  most  hurtful  to  the  world,  the  Devil  walking  about 
without  his  cloven  foot,  or  the  cloven  foot  walking  about  with- 
out the  Devil  ? 217 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Of  the  cloven  foot  walking  about  the  world  without  the  Devil ; 
namely,  of  witches  making  bargains  with  the  Devil ;  and  parti- 
cularly of  selling  the  soul  to  the  Devil,  ....  229 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Of  the  tools  the  Devil  works  with  ;  namely,  witches,  wizards  or 
warlocks,  conjurers,  magicians,  diviners,  astrologers,  interpret- 
ers of  dreams,  tellers  of  fortunes  ;  and,  above  all  the  rest,  his 
particular  modern  privy-counsellors,  called  wits  and  fools,  .  .  244 

CHAPTER    X. 

Of  the  various  methods  the  Devil  takes  to  converse  with  mankind,  253 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Of  divination,  sorcery,  the  black  art,  pa-wawing,  and  such  like 
pretenders  to  devilism  •  and  how  far  the  Devil  is,  or  is  not,  con- 
cerned in  them, 272 

CONCLUSION. 

Of  the  Devil's  last  scene  of  liberty,  and  what  may  be  supposed  to 
be  his  end  ;  with  what  we  are  to  understand  of  his  being  tor- 
mented forever  and  ever, 293 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL. 

PART    I. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Introduction  to  the  whole  Work. 

I  DOUBT  not  but  the  title  of  this  book  will  amuse 
some  of  my  reading  friends  a  little  at  first ;  they  will 
make  a  pause,  perhaps,  as  they  do  at  a  witch's  prayer, 
and  be  some  time  resolving  whether  they  had  best 
look  into  it  or  no,  lest  they  should  really  raise  the 
Devil,  by  reading  his  story. 

Children  and  old  women  have  told  themselves  so 
many  frightful  things  of  the  Devil,  and  have  formed 
ideas  of  him  in  their  minds,  in  so  many  horrible  and 
monstrous  shapes,  that  really  it  were  enough  to  fright 
the  Devil  himself  to  meet  hirrfself  in  the  dark,  dressed 
up  in  the  several  figures  which  imagination  has 
formed  for  him  in  the  minds  of  men  ;  and,  as  for 
themselves,  I  cannot  think  by  any  means  that  the 
Devil  would  terrify  them  half  so  much,  if  they  were 
to  converse  face  to  face  with  him. 

It  must  certainly  therefore  be  a  most  useful  under- 
taking, to  giv%a  true  history  of  this  tyrant  of  the  air, 
this  god  of  the  world,  this  terror  and  aversion  of  man- 
kind, which  we  Wll  Devil ;  to  show  what  he  is,  and 
what  he  is  NOTj^Sfcere  he  is,  and  where  he  is  NOT; 
when  he  is  IN  us,  a%d  when  he  is  NOT  ;  for  I  cannot 
doubt  but  that  the  Devil  is  really  and  bona  fide  in  a 
great  many  of  our  honest  weak-headed  friends,  when 
they  themselves  know  nothing  of  the  matter. 

Nor  is  the  work  so  difficult  as  some  may  imagine. 


10  THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

The  Devil's  history  is  not  so  hard  to  come  at,  as  it 
seems  to  be ;  his  original  and  the  first  rise  of  his  fam- 
ily is  upon  record  ;  and  as  for  his  conduct,  he  has 
acted  indeed  in  the  dark,  as  to  method,  in  many 
things;  but  in  general,  as  cunning  as  he  is,  he  has 
been  fool  enough  to  expose  himself  in  some  of  the 
most  considerable  transactions  of  his  Ike,  and  has  not 
shown  himself  a  politician  at  all ;  our  old  friend  Mat- 
chiavel  outdid  him  in  many  things,  and  I  may,  in  the 
process  of  this  work,  give  an  account  of  several  of  the 
sons  of  Adam,  and  some  societies  of  them  too,  who 
have  outwitted  the  Devil,  nay,  who  have  outsinned 
the  Devil,  and  that  I  think  may  be  called  outshooting 
him  in  his  own  bow. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  expected  of  me  in  this  history, 
that  since  I  seem  inclined  to  speak  favorably  of  Satan, 
to  do  him  justice,  and  to  write  his  story- impartially,  I 
should  take  some  pains  to  tell  you  what  religion  he  is 
of:  and  even  this  part  may  not  be  so  much  a  jest,  as 
at  first  sight  you  may  take  it  to  be;  for  Satan  has 
something  of  religion  in  him,  I  assure  you  ;  nor  is  he 
such  an  unprofitable  Devil  that  way  as  some  may 
suppose  him  to  be;  for  though,  in  reverence  to  my 
brethren,  I  will  not  reckon  him  among  the  clergy ;  no 
not  so  much  as  a  gifted  brother ;  yet  I  cannot  deny, 
but  that  he  often  preaches ;  and  if  it  be  not  profitable 
to  his  hearers,  it  is  as  much  their  fault,  as  it  is  out  of 
his  design. 

It  has  indeed  been  suggested,  that  he  has  taken 
orders ;  and  that  a  certain  Pope,  famous  for  being  an 
extraordinary  favorite  of  his,  gave  him  both  institution 
and  induction ;  but  as  this  is  not  upon  record,  and 
therefore  we  have  no  authentic  document  for  the  pro- 
bation, I  shall  not  affirm  it  for  a  truth,  for  I  would  not 
slander  the  Devil. 

It  is  said  also,  and  I  am  apt  to  believe  it,  that  he 
was  very  familiar  with  that  holy  father  Pope  Silvester 
II.,  and  some  charge  him  with  personating  Pope  Hil- 
debrand  on  an  extraordinary  occasion,  and  himself 
sitting  in  the  chair  apostolic,  in  a  full  congregation; 
and  you  may  hear  more  of  this  hereafter ;  but  as  I  do 
not  meet  with  Pope  Diabolus  among  the  Iist3  in  all 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  ll 

Father  Platina's  Lives  of  the  Popes,  so  I  am  willing 
to  leave  it  as  I  find  it. 

But  to  speak  to  the  point,  and  a  nice  point  it  is,  1 
acknowledge;  namely,  what  religion  the  Devil  is  of; 
my  answer  will  indeed  be  general,  yet  not  at  all  am- 
biguous ;  for  I  love  to  speak  positively,  and  with 
undoubted  evidence. 

1.  He  is  a  believer.     And  if  in  saying  so  it  should 
follow,   that  even  the  Devil  has  more  religion  than 
some  of  our  men  of  fame  can  at  this  time  be  charged 
with,  I  can  assure  them,  however,  that  the  Devil  is  no 
infidel. 

2.  He  fears  God.     We  have  such  abundant  evi- 
dence of  this  in  sacred  history,  that  if  I  were  not  at 
present,  in  common  with  a  few  others,  talking  to  an 
infidel  sort  of  gentlemen,   with  whom  those  remote 
things  called  scriptures  are  not  allowed  in  evidence, 
I  might  say  it  was  sufficiently  proved ;  but  I  doubt 
not  in  the  process  of  this  undertaking,  to  show  that 
the   Devil  really  fears   God,   and   that  after  another 
manner  than  ever  he  feared  Saint  Francis  or  Saint 
Dunstan  ^  and  if  that  be  proved,  as  I  take  upon  me  to 
advance,/  I    shall  leave   it  to  judgment,   who  is  the 
better  Christian,  the  Devil  who  believes  and  trembles, 
or  our  modern  infidels  who  believe  neither  God  nor 
Devil./ 

Having  thus  brought  the  Devil  within  the  pale,  I 
shall  leave  him  among  you  for  the  present ;  not  but 
that  I  may  examine  in  its  order,  who  has  the  best 
claim  to  his  brotherhood,  the  papists  or  the  protest- 
ants  ;  and  among  the  latter,  the  Lutherans  or  the 
Calvinists;  and  so  descending  to  all  the  several  de- 
nominations of  churches,  see  who  has  less  of  the  Devil 
in  them,  and  who  more;  and  whether  less  or  more, 
the  Devil  has  not  a  seat  in  every  synagogue,  a  pew  in 
every  church,  a  place  in  every  pulpit,  and  a  vote  in 
every  synod ;  even  to  the  Sanhedrim  of  the  Jews. 

I  think  I  do  no  injury  at  all  to  the  Devil,  to  say  that 
he  had  a  great  hand  in  the  old  Holy  War,  as  it  was 
ignorantly  and  enthusiastically  called;  stirring  up  the 
Christian  princes  and  powers  of  Europe  to  run  a  mad- 
ding after  the  Turks  and  Saracens,  and  make  war 
with  those  innocent  people  above  a  thousand  miles  off, 


12  THE    HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL. 

only  because  they  entered  into  God's  heritage  when 
he  had  forsaken  it ;  grazed  upon  his  ground  when  he 
had  fairly  turned  it  into  a  common,  and  laid  it  open 
for  the  next  comer ;  spending  their  nations'  treasure, 
and  embarking  their  kings  and  people,  I  say,  in  a 
war  above  a  thousand  miles  off,  filling  their  heads 
with  that  religious  madness,  called,  in  those  days,  holy 
zeal  to  recover  the  terra  sancla,  the  sepulchres  of 
Christ  and  the  saints,  and  as  they  called  it  falsely,  the 
holy  city,  though  true  religion  says  it  was  the  accursed 
city,  and  not  worth  spending  one  drop  of  blood  for. 

This  religious  bubble  was  certainly  of  Satan,  who, 
as  he  craftily  drew  them  in,  so  like  a  true  Devil  he 
left  them  in  the  lurch  when  they  came  there,  faced 
about  to  the  Saracens,  animated  the  immortal  Saladin 
against  them,  and  managed  so  dextrously,  that  he  left 
the  bones  of  about  thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  thou- 
sand Christians  there,  as  a  trophy  of  his  infernal  poli- 
tics :  and  after  the  Christian  world  had  run  d  la  santa 
terra,  or  in  English,  a  sauntering  about  a  hundred 
year,  he  dropt  it  to  play  another  game  less  foolish,  but 
ten  times  wickeder  than  that  which  went  before  it, 
namely,  turning  the  crusadoes  of  the  Christians,  one 
against  another  ;  and,  as  Hudibras  said  in  another 
case, 

"  Made  them  fight  like  mad  or  drunk, 
For  Dame  Religion,  as  for  Punk." 

Of  this  you  have  a  complete  account  in  the  history 
of  the  Pope's  decrees  against  the  Count  de  Thoulouse, 
and  the  Waldenses  and  Albigenses,  with  the  cru- 
sadoes and  massacres  which  followed  upon  them; 
wherein,  to  do  the  Devil's  politics  some  justice,  he  met 
with  all  the  success  he  could  desire;  the  zealots  of 
that  day  executed  his  infernal  orders  most  punctually, 
and  planted  religion  in  those  countries  in  a  glorious 
and  triumphant  manner,  upon  the  destruction  of  an 
infinite  number  of  innocent  people,  whose  blood  has 
fattened  the  soil  for  the  growth  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
in  a  manner  very  particular,  and  to  Satan's  full  satis- 
faction. 

I  might,  to  complete  this  part  of  his  history,  give 
you  the  detail  of  his  progress  in  these  first  steps  of  his 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  13 

alliances  with  Rome ;  and  add  a  long  list  of  massacres, 
wars  and  expeditions,  in  behalf  of  religion,  which  he 
has  had  the  honor  to  have  a  visible  hand  in;  such  as 
the  Parisian  massacre,  the  Flemish  war,  under  the 
Duke  d'Alva,  the  Smithfield  fires  in  the  Marian  days 
in  England,  and  the  massacres  in  Ireland;  all  which 
would  most  effectually  convince  us,  that  the  Devil  has 
not  been  idle  in  his  business ;  but  I  may  meet  with 
these  again  in  my  way ;  it  is  enough  while  I  am  upon 
the  generals  only,  to  mention  them  thus  in  a  summary 
way :  I  say,  it  is  enough  to  prove  that  the  Devil  has 
really  been  as  much  concerned  as  any  body,  in  the 
methods  taken  by  some  people  for  propagating  the 
Christian  religion  in  the  world. 

Some  have  rashly,  and  I  had  almost  said  maliciously, 
charged  the  Devil  with  the  great  triumphs  of  his 
friends  the  Spaniards  in  America,  and  would  place 
the  conquest  of  Mexico  and  Peru  to  the  credit  of  his 
account. 

But  I  cannot  join  with  them  in  this  at  all :  I  must 
say,  I  believe  the  Devil  was  innocent  of  that  matter ; 
my  reason  is,  because  Satan  was  never  such  a  fool  as 
to  spend  his  time,  or  his  politics,  or  embark  his  allies, 
to  conquer  nations  who  were  already  his  own ;  that 
would  be  Satan  against  Beelzebub,  a  making  war 
upon  himself,  and  at  least  doing  nothing  to  the  pur- 
pose. 

But  the  greatest  piece  of  management,  which  we 
find  the  Devil  has  concerned  himself  in  of  late,  in  the 
matter  of  religion,  seems  to  be  that  of  the  mission  into 
China ;  and  here,  indeed,  Satan  has  acted  his  master- 
piece :  it  was,  no  doubt,  much  for  his  service,  that  the 
Chinese  should  have  no  insight  into  matters  of 
religion,  I  mean,  that  we  call  Christian  ;  and,  there- 
fore, though  popery  and  the  Devil  are  not  at  so  much 
variance  as  some  may  imagine,  yet  he  did  not  think  it 
safe  to  let  the  general  system  of  Christianity  be  heard 
of  among  them  in  China.  Hence  when  the  name  of 
the  Christian  religion  had  but  been  received  with  some 
seeming  approbation  in  the  country  of  Japan,  Satan 
immediately,  as  if  alarmed  at  the  thing,  and  dreading 
what  the  consequences  of  it  might  be,  armed  the 


14  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

Japanese  against  it  with  such  fury,  that  they  expelled 
it  at  once. 

It  was  much  safer  to  his  designs,  when,  if  the  story 
be  not  a  fiction,  he  put  that  Dutch  witticism  into  the 
mouths  of  the  States'  commanders,  when  they  came  to 
Japan;  who,  having  more  wit  than  to  own  themselves 
Christians  in  such  a  place  as  that,  when  the  question 
was  put  to  them,  answered  negatively,  that  they  were 
not,  but  that  they  were  of  another  religion,  called 
Hollanders. 

However,  it  seems  the  diligent  Jesuits  outwitted  the 
Devil  in  China,  and,  as  I  said  above,  overshot  him  in 
his  own  bow ;  for  the  mission  being  in  danger  by  the 
Devil  and  the  Chinese  Emperor 's  joining  together,  of 
being  wholly  expelled  there  too,  as  they  had  been  in 
Japan,  they  cunningly  fell  in  with  the  ecclesiastics  of 
the  country,  and  joining  the  priestcraft  of  both  religions 
together,  they  brought  Jesus  Christ  and  Confucius  to 
be  so  reconcilable,  that  the  Chinese  and  the  Roman 
Idolatry  appeared  capable  of  a  confederacy,  of  going  on 
hand  in  hand  together,  and  consequently  of  being 
very  good  friends. 

This  was  a  master-piece  indeed,  and,  as  they  say. 
almost  frighted  Satan  out  of  his  wits ;  but  he,  being  a 
ready  manager,  and  particularly  famous  for  serving 
himself  of  the  rogueries  of  the  priests,  faced  about  im- 
mediately to  the  mission,  and  making  a  virtue  of 
necessity,  clapt  in,  with  all  possible  alacrity,  with  the 
proposal ;  so  the  Jesuits  and  he  formed  a  hotch-potch 
of  religion  made  up  of  popery  and  paganism,  and  cal- 
culated to  leave  the  latter  rather  worse  than  they 
found  it,  blending  the  faith  of  Christ  and  the  philoso- 
phy or  morals  of  Confucius  together,  and  formally 
christening  them  by  the  name  of  religion;  by  which 
means  the  politic  interest  of  the  mission  was  pre- 
served ;  and  yet  Satan  lost  not  one  inch  of  ground 
with  the  Chinese,  no,  not  by  the  planting  the  gospel 
itself,  such  as  it  was,  among  them. 

Nor  has  it  been  such  disadvantage  to  him  that  this 
plan  or  scheme  of  a  new-modelled  religion  would  not 
go  down  at  Rome,  and  that  the  Inquisition  damneol  it 
with  bell,  book  and  candle ;  distance  of  place  served 
his  new  allies,  the  missionaries,  in  the  stead  of  a  pro- 


THE  HISTORY    OF  THE    DEVIL.  15 

tection  from  the  Inquisition ;  and  now  and  then  a  rich 
present  well  placed  found  them  friends  in  the  congre- 
gation itself;  and  where  any  nuncio  with  his  impu- 
dent zeal  pretended  to  take  such  a  long  voyage  to 
oppose  them,  Satan  took  care  to  get  him  sent  back  re 
infecta,  or  inspired  the  mission  to  move  him  off  the 
premises,  by  methods  of  their  own ;  that  is  to  say, 
being  interpreted,  to  murder  him. 

But  there  is  so  much  to  inquire  of  about  the  Devil, 
before  we  can  bring  his  story  down  to  our  modern 
times,  that  we  must  for  the  present  let  them  drop,  and 
look  a  little  back  to  the  remoter  parts  of  this  history ; 
drawing  his  picture,  that  people  may  know  him  when 
they  meet  him,  and  see  who  and  what  he  is,  and  what 
he  has  been  doing  ever  since  he  got  leave  to  act  in  the 
high  station  he  now  appears  in. 

But,  however,  he  knows  the  certainty  of  this  fact, 
that  when  he  endeavors  the  seducing  the  chosen  ser- 
vants of  the  Most  High,  he  fights  against  God  himself, 
struggles  with  irresistible  grace,  and  makes  war  with 
infinite  power;  undermining  the  church  of  God,  and 
that  faith  in  him,  which  is  fortified  with  the  eternal 
promises  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  gates  of  hell,  that  is 
to  say,  the  Devil  and  all  his  power,  shall  not  prevail 
against  them;  I  say,  however  he  knows  the  impos- 
sibility there  is  that  he  should  obtain  his  ends,  yet  so 
blind  is  his  rage,  so  infatuate  his  wisdom,  that  he  can- 
not refrain  breaking  himself  to  pieces  against  this 
mountain,  and  splitting  against  the  rock. 

But  to  leave  this  serious  part,  which  is  a  little  too 
solemn  for  the  account  of  this  rebel :  seeing  we  are 
not  to  expect  he  will  write  his  own  history  for  our 
information  and  diversion,  I  shall  see  if  I  cannot  write 
it  for  him:  in  order  to  this,  I  shall  extract  the  sub- 
stance of  his  whole  story,  from  the  beginning  to  our 
own  times,  which  I  shall  collect  out  of  what  is  come 
to  hand,  whether  by  revelation  or  inspiration,  that 's 
nothing  to  him :  I  shall  take  care  so  to  improve  my 
intelligence,  as  may  make  my  account  of  him  authen- 
tic, and,  in  a  word,  such  as  the  Devil  himself  shall  not 
be  able  to  contradict. 

In  writing  this  uncouth  story,  I  shall  be  freed  from 
the  censures  of  the  critics,  in  a  more  than  ordinary 


16  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

manner,  upon  one  account  especially;  namely,  that  my 
story  shall  be  so  just,  and  so  well-grounded,  and,  after 
all  the  good  things  I  shall  say  of  Satan,  will  be  so  little 
to  his  satisfaction,  that  the  Devil  himself  will  not  be 
able  to  say,  I  dealt  with  the  Devil  in  writing  it:  I 
might,  perhaps,  give  you  some  account  where  I  had 
my  intelligence,  and  how  all  the  arcana  of  his  man- 
agement have  come  to  my  hands  ;  but  pardon  me, 
gentlemen ;  this  would  be  to  betray  conversation,  and 
to  discover  my  agents;  and  you  know  statesmen  are 
very  careful  to  preserve  the  correspondences  they  keep 
in  the  enemy's  country,  lest  they  expose  their  friends 
to  the  resentment  of  the  power  whose  counsels  they 
betray. 

Besides,  the  learned  tell  us,  that  ministers  of  state 
make  an  excellent  plea  of  their  not  betraying  their 
intelligence,  against  all  party  inquiries  into  the  great 
sums  of  money  pretended  to  be  paid  for  secret  service ; 
and  whether  the  secret  service  was  to  bribe  people  to 
betray  things  abroad,  or  at  home ;  whether  the  money 
was  paid  to  somebody,  or  to  nobody ;  employed  to 
establish  correspondences  abroad,  or  to  establish  fam- 
ilies, and  amass  treasure,  at  home ;  in  a  word,  whether 
it  was  to  serve  their  country,  or  serve  themselves ;  it 
has  been  the  same  thing,  and  the  same  plea  has  been 
their  protection  :  likewise  in  the  important  affair  which 
I  am  upon,  it  is  hoped  you  will  not  desire  me  to  betray 
my  correspondents ;  for  you  know  Satan  is  naturally 
cruel  and  malicious,  and  who  knows  what  he  might 
do,  to  show  his  resentment?  at  least  it  might  endanger 
a  stop  of  our  intelligence  for  the  future. 

And  yet,  before  I  have  done,  I  shall  make  it  very 
plain,  that  however  my  information  may  be  secret  and 
difficult,  that  yet  I  came  very  honestly  by  it,  and  shall 
make  a  very  good  use  of  it ;  for  it  is  a  great  mistake 
in  those  who  think  that  an  acquaintance  with  the 
affairs  of  the  Devil  may  not  be  made  very  useful  to 
us  all :  they  that  know  no  evil  can  know  no  good  :  and, 
as  the  learned  tell  us,  that  a  stone  taken  out  of  the 
head  of  a  toad  is  a  good  antidote  against  poison ;  so  a 
competent  knowledge  of  the  Devil,  and  all  his  ways, 
may  be  the  best  help  to  make  us  defy  the  Devil,  and 
all  his  works. 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  17 

CHAPTER   II. 

Of  the  word  Devil,  as  it  is  a  proper  name  to  the  Devil, 
and  any  or  all  of  his  host,  angels,  fyc. 

IT  is  a  question,  not  yet  determined  by  the  learned, 
whether  the  word  Devil  be  a  singular,  that  is  to  say, 
the  name  of  a  person  standing  by  himself,  or  a  noun  of 
multitude  :  if  it  be  a  singular,  and  so  must  be  used  per- 
sonally only  as  a  proper  name,  it  consequently  implies 
one  imperial  Devil,  monarch  or  king  of  the  whole  clan 
of  hell ;  justly  distinguished  by  the  term  the  Devil,  or, 
as  the  Scots  call  him,  the  muckle  horrid  Dee'l,  or,  as 
others  in  a  wilder  dialect,  the  Devil  of  hell,  that  is  to 
say,  the  Devil  of  a  Devil ;  or  (better  still)  as  the  scrip- 
ture expresses  it,  by  way  of  emphasis,  the  great  red 
Dragon,  the  Devil,  and  Satan. 

But  if  we  take  this  word  to  be,  as  above,  a  noun  of 
multitude,  and  so  to  be  used  ambo-dezter,  as  occasion 
presents,  singular  or  plural;  then  the  Devil  signifies 
Satan  by  himself,  or  Satan  with  all  his  legions  at  his 
heels,  as  you  please,  more  or  less;  and  this  way  of 
understanding  the  word,  as  it  may  be  very  convenient 
for  my  purpose,  in  the  account  I  am  now  to  give  of 
the  infernal  powers,  so  it  is  not  altogether  improper  in 
the  nature  of  the  thing  :  it  is  thus  expressed  in  scrip- 
ture, where  the  person  possessed  (Mark  v.  9,)  is  first 
said  to  be  possessed  of  the  Devil  (singular) ;  and  our 
Saviour  asks  him,  as  speaking  to  a  single  person, 
What  is  thy  name  1  and  is  answered  in  the  plural  and 
singular  together,  My  name  is  Legion,  for  we  are 
many. 

^  Nor  will  it  be  any  wrong  to  the  Devil,  supposing 
him  a  single  person,  seeing  entitling  him  to  the  con- 
duct of  all  his  inferior  agents,  is  what  he  will  take 
rather  for  an  addition  to  his  infernal  glory,  than  a 
diminution  or  lessening  of  him,  in  the  extent  of  his 
fame. 

Having  thus  articled  with  the  Devil  for  liberty  of 
speech,  I  shall  talk  of  him  sometimes  in  the  singular, 
2* 


18  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

as  a  person,  and  sometimes  in  the  plural,  as  an  host 
of  devils,  or  of  infernal  spirits,  just  as  occasion 
requires,  and  as  the  history  of  his  affairs  makes  neces- 
sary. 

The  truth  is,  God  and  the  Devil,  however  opposite 
in  their  nature,  and  remote  from  one  another  in  their 
place  of  abiding,  seem  to  stand  pretty  much  upon  a 
level  in  our  faith :  for  as  to  our  believing  the  reality 
of  their  existence,  he  that  denies  one,  generally  denies 
both;  and  he  that  believes  one,  necessarily  believes 
both. 

Very  few,  if  any,  of  those  who  believe  there  is  a 
God,  and  acknowledge  the  debt  of  homage  which 
mankind  owes  to  the  Supreme  governor  of  the  world, 
doubt  the  existence  of  the  Devil,  except  here  and 
there  one,  whom  we  call  practical  Atheists ;  and  it  is 
the  character  of  an  Atheist,  if  there  is  such  a  creature 
on  earth,  that  he  believes  neither  God  nor  Devil. 

As  the  belief  of  both  these  stands  upon  a  level,  and 
that  God  and  the  Devil  seem  to  have  an  equal  share 
in  our  faith,  so  the  evidence  of  their  existence  seems 
to  stand  upon  a  level  too,  in  many  things ;  and  as  they 
are  known  by  their  works  in  the  same  particular  cases, 
so  they  are  discovered  after  the  same  manner  of 
demonstration. 

Nay,  in  some  respects  it  is  equally  criminal  to  deny 
the  reality  of  them  both ;  only  with  this  difference, 
that  to  believe  the  existence  of  a  God  is  a  debt  to 
nature,  and  to  believe  the  existence  of  the  Devil  is  a 
like  debt  to  reason :  one  is  a  demonstration  from  the 
reality  of  visible  causes,  and  the  other  a  deduction 
from  the  like  reality  of  their  effects. 

One  demonstration  of  the  existence  of  God,  is  from 
the  universal  well-guided  consent  of  all  nations  to  wor- 
ship and  adore  a  supreme  power :  one  demonstration 
of  the  existence  of  the  Devil,  is  from  the  avowed  ill- 
guided  consent  of  some  nations,  who,  knowing  no 
other  God,  make  a  God  of  the  Devil  for  want  of  a 
better. 

It  may  be  true,  those  nations  have  no  other  ideas  of 
the  Devil  than  as  of  a  superior  power ;  if  they  thought 
him  a  supreme  power,  it  would  have  other  effects  on 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL,  19 

them,  and  they  would  submit  to  and  worship  him 
with  a  different  kind  of  fear. 

But  it  is  plain  they  have  right  notions  of  him  as  a 
devil,  or  evil  spirit;  because  the  best  reason,  and  in 
some  places  the  only  reason  they  give  for  worshipping 
him  is,  that  he  may  do  them  no  hurt  ;  having  no 
notions  at  all  of  his  having  any  power,  much  less  any 
inclination,  to  do  them  good ;  so  that  indeed  they  make 
a  mere  devil  of  him,  at  the  same  time  that  they  bow 
to  him  as  God. 

All  the  ages  of  paganism  in  the  world  have  had  this 
notion  of  the  Devil :  indeed  in  some  parts  of  the  world 
they  had  also  some  deities  which  they  honored  above 
him,  as  being  supposed  to  be  beneficent,  kind,  and  in- 
clined, as  well  as  capable,  to  give  them  good  things ; 
for  this  reason  the  more  polite  heathens,  such  as  the 
Grecians  and  Romans,  had  their  Lares,  or  household 
gods,  whom  they  paid  a  particular  respect  to;  as  being 
their  protectors  from  hobgoblins,  ghosts  of  the  dead, 
evil  spirits,  frightful  appearances,  evil  geniuses,  and 
other  noxious  beings  from  the  invisible  world ;  or,  to 
put  it  into  the  language  of  the  day  we  live  in,  from  the 
Devil,  in  whatever  shape  or  appearance  he  might 
come  to  them,  and  from  whatever  might  hurt  them ; 
and  what  was  all  this  but  setting  up  Devils  against 
Devils,  supplicating  one  Devil  under  the  notion  of  a 
good  spirit,  to  drive  out  and  protect  them  from  another, 
whom  they  called  a  bad  spirit,  the  white  Devil  against 
the  black  Devil  ? 

This  proceeds  from  the  natural  notions  mankind 
necessarily  entertain  of  things  to  come:  superior  or  in- 
ferior, God  and  the  Devil,  fill  up  all  futurity  in  our 
thoughts ;  and  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  form  any  image 
in  our  minds  of  an  immortality,  and  invisible  world, 
but  under  the  notions  of  perfect  felicity,  or  extreme 
misery. 

Now  as  these  two  respect  the  eternal  state  of  man 
after  life,  they  are  respectively  the  object  of  our  rever- 
ence and  affection,  or  of  our  horror  and  aversion ; 
but  notwithstanding  they  are  placed  thus  in  a  diamet- 
rical opposition  in  our  affections  and  passions,  they 
are  on  an  evident  level  as  to  the  certainty  of  their  exist- 


20  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

ence,  and,  as  I  said  above,  bear  an  equal  share  in  our 
faith. 

It  being  then  as  certain  that  there  is  a  Devil,  as  that 
there  is  a  God,  I  must  from  this  time  forward  admit 
no  more  doubt  of  his  existence,  nor  take  any  more 
pains  to  convince  you  of  it;  but  speaking  of  him  as  a 
reality  in  being,  proceed  to  inquire  who  he  is,  and 
from  whence,  in  order  to  enter  directly  into  the  detail 
of  his  history. 

Now  not  to  enter  into  all  the  metaphysical  trumpery 
of  his  schools;  nor  wholly  to  confine  myself  to  the 
language  of  the  pulpit;  where  we  are  told,  that  to 
think  of  God,  and  of  the  Devil,  we  must  endeavor  first 
to  form  ideas  of  those  things  which  illustrate  the 
descriptions  of  rewards  and  punishments ;  in  the  one 
the  eternal  presence  of  the  highest  good,  and,  as  a 
necessary  attendant,  the  most  perfect,  consummate, 
durable  bliss  and  felicity,  springing  from  the  presence 
of  that  being  in  whom  all  possible  beatitude  is  inex- 
pressibly present,  and  that  in  the  highest  perfection  ; 
on  the  contrary,  to  conceive  of  a  sublime  fallen  arch- 
angel attended  with  an  innumerable  host  of  degenerate, 
rebel  seraphs,  or  angels,  cast  out  of  heaven  together ; 
all  guilty  of  inexpressible  rebellion,  and  all  suffering 
from  that  time,  and  to  suffer  for  ever,  the  eternal  ven- 
geance of  the  Almighty,  in  an  inconceivable  manner  ; 
that  his  presence,  though  blessed  in  itself,  is  to  them 
the  most  complete  article  of  terror;  that  they  are  in 
themselves  perfectly  miserable ;  and  to  be  with  whom 
for  ever,  adds  an  inexpressible  misery  to  any  state  as 
well  as  place ;  and  fills  the  minds  of  those  who  are  to 
be,  or  expect  to  be,  banished  to  them,  with  inconceiv- 
able horror  and  amazement. 

But  when  you  have  gone  over  all  this,  and  a  great 
deal  more  of  the  like,  though  less  intelligible  language, 
which  the  passions  of  men  collect  to  amuse  one  anoth- 
er with ;  you  have  said  nothing,  if  you  omit  the  main 
article,  namely,  the  personality  of  the  Devil ;  and  till 
you  add  to  all  the  rest  some  description  of  the  com- 
pany with  whom  all  this  is  to  be  suffered  ;  namely,  the 
Devil  and  his  angels. 

Now  who  this  Devil  and  his  angels  are,  what  share 
they  have  either  actively  or  passively  in  the  eternal 


THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  21 

miseries  of  a  future  state,  how  far  they  are  agents  in, 
or  partners  with,  the  sufferings  of  the  place,  is  a  diffi- 
culty yet  not  fully  discovered  by  the  most  learned  ; 
nor  do  I  believe  it  is  made  less  a  difficulty  by  their 
meddling  with  it. 

But  to  come  to  the  personal  and  original  of  the 
Devil,  or,  as  I  said  before,  of  Devils ;  I  allow  him  to 
come  of  an  ancient  family,  for  he  is  from  heaven ;  and, 
more  truly  than  the  Romans  could  say  of  their  idolized 
Numa,  he  is  of  the  race  of  the  gods. 

That  Satan  is  a  fallen  angel,  a  rebel  seraph,  cast  out 
for  his  rebellion,  is  the  general  opinion,  and  it  is  not 
my  business  to  dispute  things  universally  received ;  as 
he  was  tried,  condemned,  and  the  sentence  of  expulsion 
executed  on  him,  in  heaven,  he  is  in  this  world  like  a 
transported  felon  never  to  return  ;  his  crime,  whatever 
particular  aggravations  it  might  have,  it  is  certain, 
amounted  to  high  treason  against  his  Lord  and  Gov- 
ernor, who  was  also  his  Maker  ;  against  whom  he  rose 
in  rebellion,  took  up  arms,  and,  in  a  word,  raised  an 
horrid  and  unnatural  war  in  his  dominions ;  but  being 
overcome  in  battle,  and  made  prisoner,  he  and  all  his 
host,  whose  numbers  were  infinite,  all  glorious  angels 
like  himself,  lost  at  once  their  beauty  and  glory  with 
their  innocence,  and  commenced  Devils,  being  trans- 
formed by  crime  into  monsters  and  frightful  objects ; 
such  as  to  describe,  human  fancy  is  obliged  to  draw 
pictures  and  descriptions  in  such  forms  as  are  most 
hateful  and  frightful  to  the  imagination. 

These  notions,  I  doubt  not,  gave  birth  to  all  the 
beauteous  images  and  sublime  expressions  in  Mr.  Mil- 
ton's majestic  poem ;  where,  though  he  has  played  the 
poet  in  the  most  luxuriant  manner,  he  has  sinned 
against  Satan  most  egregiously,  and  done  the  Devil  a 
manifest  injury  in  a  great  many  particulars,  as  1  shall 
show  in  its  place.  And  as  I  shall  be  obliged  to  do 
Satan  justice  when  I  come  to  that  part  of  his  history, 
Mr.  Milton's  admirers  must  pardon  me,  if  I  let  them 
see,  that  though  I  admire  Mr.  Milton  as  a  poet,  yet 
that  he  was  greatly  out  in  matters  of  history,  and 
especially  the  history  of  the  Devil ;  in  short,  that  he 
has  charged  Satan  falsely  in  several  particulars  ;  and 
so  he  has  Adam  and  Eve  too  :  but  that  I  shall  leave 


22  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL. 

till  I  come  to  the  history  of  the  royal  family  of  Eden; 
which  I  resolve  to  present  you  with  when  the  Devil 
and  I  have  done  with  one  another. 

But  not  to  run  down  Mr.  Milton  neither,  whose 
poetry,  or  his  judgment,  cannot  he  reproached  without 
injury  to  our  own  ;  all  those  bright  ideas  of  his,  whicli 
make  his  poem  so  justly  valued,  whether  they  are 
capable  of  proof  as  to  the  fact,  are,  notwithstanding, 
confirmations  of  my  hypothesis ;  and  are  taken  from 
a  supposition  of  the  personality  of  the  Devil,  placing 
him  at  the  head  of  the  infernal  host,  as  a  sovereign 
elevated  spirit,  and  monarch  of  hell ;  and  as  such  it  is 
that  I  undertake  to  write  his  history. 

By  the  word  hell  I  do  not  suppose,  or  at  least  not 
determine,  that  his  residence,  or  that  of  the  whole 
army  of  Devils,  is  yet  in  the  same  local  hell,  to  which 
the  divines  tell  us  he  shall  be  at  last  chained  down  ; 
or  at  least  that  he  is  yet  confined  to  it ;  for  we  shall 
find  he  is  at  present  a  prisoner  at  large  ;  of  both  which 
circumstances  of  Satan,  I  shall  take  occasion  to  speak 
in  its  course. 

But  when^I  call  the  Devil  the  monarch  of  hell.  I 
am  to  be  understood  as  suits  to  the  present  purpose ; 
that  he  is  the  sovereign  of  all  the  race  of  hell,  that  is 
to  say,  of  all  the  devils  or  spirits  of  the  infernal  clan, 
let  their  numbers,  quality  and  powers  be  what  they 
will. 

Upon  this  supposed  personality  and  superiority  of 
Satan,  or,  as  I  call  it,  the  sovereignty  and  government 
of  one  Devil  above  all  the  rest ;  I  say,  upon  this  notion 
are  formed  all  the  systems  of  the  dark  side  of  futurity, 
that  we  can  form  in  our  minds :  and  so  general  is  the 
opinion  of  it,  that  it  will  hardly  bear  to  be  opposed  by 
any  other  argument,  at  least  that  will  bear  to  be  reas- 
oned upon :  all  the  notions  of  a  parity  of  Devils,  or 
making  a  commonwealth  among  the  black  divan,  seem 
to  be  enthusiastic  and  visionary ;  but  with  no  consist- 
ency or  certainty ;  and  is  so  generally  exploded,  that 
we  must  not  venture  so  much  as  to  debate  the  point. 

Taking  it  then,  as  the  generality  of  mankind  do, 
that  there  is  a  grand  Devil,  a  superior  of  the  whole 
black  race ;  that  they  all  fell,  together  with  their  gen- 
eral, Satan,  at  the  head  of  them  ;  that  though  he, 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  23 

Satan,  could  not  maintain  his  high  station  in  heaven, 
yet  that  he  did  continue  his  dignity  among  the  rest ; 
who  are  called  his  servants,  in  scripture,  his  angels ; 
that  he  has  a  kind  of  dominion  or  authority  over  the 
rest;  and  that  they  were  all,  how  many  millions  soever 
in  number,  at  his  command;  employed  by  him  in  all 
his  hellish  designs,  and  in  all  his  wicked  contrivances 
for  the  destruction  of  man,  and  for  the  setting  up  his 
own  kingdom  in  the  world  ; 

Supposing  then  that  there  is  such  a  superior  master 
Devil  over  all  the  rest,  it  remains  that  we  inquire  into 
his  character,  and  something  of  his  history;  in  which, 
though  we  cannot  perhaps  produce  such  authentic 
documents  as  in  the  story  of  other  great  monarchs, 
tyrants  and  furies  of  the  world  ;  yet  I  shall  endeavor 
to  speak  some  things  which  the  experience  of  mankind 
may  be  apt  to  confirm,  and  which  the  Devil  himself 
will  hardly  be  able  to  contradict. 

It  being  then  granted,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  or 
person,  call  him  which  we  will,  as  a  master  Devil ;  that 
he  is  thus  superior  to  all  the  rest  in  power  and  in  au- 
thority; and  that  all  the  other  evil  spirits  are  his 
angels,  or  ministers,  or  officers,  to  execute  his  com- 
mands, and  are  employed  in  his  business;  it  remains 
to  inquire,  Whence  he  came  ?  How  he  got  hither,  into 
this  world  ?  What  that  business  is  which  he  is  em- 
ployed about  ?  What  his  present  state  is,  and  where, 
and  to  what  part  of  the  creation  of  God,  he  is  limited 
and  restrained  ?  What  the  liberties  are  he  takes,  or  is 
allowed  to  take  1  In  what  manner  he  works,  and  how 
his  instruments  are  likewise  allowed  to  work  ?  What 
he  has  done  ever  since  he  commenced  Devil,  what  he 
is  now  doing,  and  what  he  may  yet  do  before  his  last 
and  closer  confinement  ?  as  also,  What  he  cannot  do, 
and  how  far  we  may  or  may  not  be  said  to  be  exposed 
to  him,  or  have  or  have  not  reason  to  be  afraid  of  him  7 
These,  and  whatever  else  occurs  in  the  history  and  con- 
duct of  this  arch-devil  and  his  agents,  that  may  be 
useful  for  information,  caution,  or  diversion,  you  may 
expect  in  the  process  of  this  work. 

I  know  it  has  been  questioned  by  some,  with  more 
face  than  fear,  how  it  consists  with  a  complete  victory 
of  the  Devil,  which  they  say  was  at  first  obtained  by 


24  THE   HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIt. 

the  heavenly  powers  over  Satan  and  his  apostate  army 
in  heaven,  that  when  he  was  cast  out  of  his  holy  place, 
and  dashed  down  into  the  abyss  of  eternal  darkness, 
as  into  a  place  of  punishment,  a  condemned  hold,  or 
place  of  confinement,  to  he  reserved  there  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  great  day;  I  say.  how  it  consists  with  that 
entire  victory,  to  let  him  loose  again,  and  give  him  lib- 
erty, like  a  thief  that  has  broken  prison,  to  range  about 
God's  creation,  and  there  to  continue  his  rebellion, 
commit  new  ravages  and  acts  of  hostility  against  God, 
make  new  efforts  at  dethroning  the  Almighty  Creator; 
and  in  particular  to  fall  upon  the  weakest  of  his  crea- 
tures, man  ?  How  Satan  being  so  entirely  vanquished, 
he  should  be  permitted  to  recover  any  of  his  wicked 
powers,  and  find  room  to  do  mischief  tcr  mankind  ? 

Nay,  they  go  farther,  and  suggest  bold  things  against 
the  wisdom  of  heaven,  in  exposing  mankind,  weak  in 
comparison  of  the  immense  extent  of  the  Devil's  power, 
to  so  manifest  an  overthrow,  to  so  unequal  a  fight,  in 
which  he  is  sure,  if  alone  in  the  conflict,  to  be  worsted ; 
to  leave  him  such  a  dreadful  enemy  to  engage  with, 
and  so  ill-furnished  with  weapons  to  assist  him. 

These  objections  I  shall  give  as  good  an  answer  to, 
as  the  case  will  admit  of  in  this  course,  but  must 
adjourn  them  for  the  present. 

That  the  Devil  is  not  yet  a  close  prisoner,  we  have 
evidence  enough  to  confirm :  I  will  not  suggest,  that 
like  our  Newgate  thieves  (to  bring  little  devils  and 
great  devils  together)  he  is  let  out  by  connivance,  and 
has  some  little  latitudes  and  advantages  for  mischief, 
by  that  means ;  returning  at  certain  seasons  to  his  con- 
finement again. 

This  might  hold,  were  it  not  that  the  comparison 
must  suggest,  that  the  power  which  has  cast  him 
down  could  be  deluded,  and  the  under-keepers  or  gaol- 
ers, under  whose  charge  he  was  in  custody,  could 
wink  at  his  excursions,  and  the  Lord  of  the  place 
know  nothing  of  the  matter.  But  this  wants  farther 
explanation. 


THE  HISTORY    OF  THE   DEVIL. 


CHAPTER   III. 

Of  the  original  of  the  Devil,  who  he  is,  and  what  he 
was  before  his  expulsion  out  of  Heaven,  and  in  what 
state  he  was  from  that  time  to  the  creation  of  man, 

To  come  to  a  regular  inquiry  into  Satan's  affairs,  it 
is  needful  we  should  go  back  to  his  original,  as  far  as 
history  and  the  opinion  of  the  learned  world  will  give 
us  leave. 

It  is  agreed  by  all  writers,  as  well  sacred  as  profane, 
that  this  creature  we  now  call  a  Devil,  was  originally 
an  angel  of  light,  a  glorious  seraph  ;  perhaps  the 
choicest  of  all  the  glorious  seraphs.  See  how  Milton 
describes  his  original  glory  : 

"  Satan,  so  call  him  now  ;  his  former  name 
Is  heard  no  more  in  heaven  :  he  of  the  first, 
If  not  the  first  archangel ;  great  in  power, 
In  favor  and  preeminence." 

Lib.  v.  fol.  140. 

And  again  the  same  author,  and  upon  the  same 
subject : 

"  Brighter  once  amidst  the  host 

Of  angels,  than  that  star  the  stars  among." 

Lib.  vii.  fol.  189. 

The  glorious  figure  which  Satan  is  supposed  to 
make  among  the  thrones  and  dominions  in  heaven  is 
such,  as  we  might  suppose  the  highest  angel  in  that 
exalted  train  could  make ;  and  some  think,  as  above, 
that  he  was  the  chief  of  the  archangels. 

Hence  that  notion  (and  not  ill-founded) ;  namely,  that 
the  first  cause  of  his  disgrace,  and  on  which  ensued 
his  rebellion,  was  occasioned  upon  God's  proclaiming 
his  son  generalissimo,  and  with  himself  supreme  ruler 
in  heaven  ;  giving  the  dominion  of  all  his  works  of 
creation,  as  well  already  finished,  as  not  then  begun, 
to  him  ;  which  post  of  honor  (say  they)  Satan  .expected 
to  be  conferred  on  himself,  as  next  in  honor,  majesty, 
and  power,  to  God  the  Supreme. 
3 


26  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

This  opinion  is  followed  by  Mr.  Milton  too,  as 
appears  in  the  following  lines,  where  he  makes  all  the 
angels  attending  a  general  summons,  and  God  the 
Father  making  the  following  declaration  to  them  : 

"  Hear  all  ye  angels,  progeny  of  light, 
Thrones,  dominations,  princedoms,  virtues,  powers ! 
Hear  my  decree,  which  unrevok'd  shall  stand. 
This  day  I  have  begot  whom  I  declare 
My  only  Son,  and  on  this  holy  hill 
Him  have  anointed,  whom  ye  now  behold 
At  my  right  hand  ;  your  head  I  him  appoint : 
And  by  myself  have  sworn,  to  him  shall  bow 
All  knees  in  heav'n,  and  shall  confess  him  Lordj 
Under  his  great  vicegerent  reign  abide 
United,  as  one  individual  soul, 
For  ever  happy  :  him  who  disobeys, 
Me  disobeys,  breaks  union  ;  and  that  day 
Cast  out  from  God,  and  blessed  vision,  falls 
Into  utter  darkness,  deep  ingulph'd,  his  place 
Ordain'd  without  redemption,  without  end." 

Satan,  affronted  at  the  appearance  of  a  new  essence 
or  being  in  heaven,  called  the  Son  of  God,  for  God, 
says  Mr.  Milton,  (though  erroneously,)  declared  him- 
self at  that  time,  saying,  This  day  have  I  begotten  him, 
and  that  he  should  be  set  up  above  all  the  former 
powers  of  heaven,  of  whom  Satan  (as  above)  was  the 
chief,  and  expecting,  if  any  higher  post  could  be 
granted,  it  might  be  his  due ;  I  say,  affronted  at  this, 
he  resolved 

"  With  all  his  legions  to  dislodge,  and  leave 
Unworship'd,  unobey'd,  the  throne  supreme, 

Contemptuous." 

Par.  Lost,  lib.  v.  fol.  140. 

But  Mr.  Milton  is  grossly  erroneous  in  ascribing 
those  words,  This  day  have  I  begotten  thee,  to  that 
declaration  of  the  Father,  before  Satan  fell,  and  conse- 
quently to  a  time  before  the  creation ;  whereas  it  is  by 
interpreters  agreed  to  be  understood  of  the  incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God,  or  at  least  of  the  resurrection  :  see 
Pool  upon  Acts  xiii.  33.* 

*  Mr.  Pool's  words  are  these  :  Some  refer  the  words,  this  day  have  1 
begotten  thee,to  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  others  to  the  resur- 
rection ;  our  translators  lay  the  stress  on  the  preposition  of  which  the 
verb  is  compounded,  and  by  adding  again,  (namely)  raised  up  Jesus 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  27 

In  a  word,  Satan  withdrew  with  all  his  followers, 
malcontent  and  chagrin,  resolved  to  disobey  this  new 
command,  and  not  yield  obedience  to  the  Son. 

Now  Mr.  Milton  agrees  in  that  opinion,  that  the 
number  of  angels  which  rebelled  with  Satan  was 
infinite ;  and  suggests  in  one  place,  that  they  were  the 
greatest  half  of  all  the  angelic  body,  or  seraphic  host. 

"  But  Satan  with  his  powers 

An  host 

Innumerable  as  the  stars  of  night, 

Or  stars  of  morning,  dew-drops,  which  the  sun 

Impearls  on  ev'ry  leaf,  and  ev'ry  flower." 

Ib.  lib.  v.  fol.  142. 

Be  their  number  as  it  is,  numberless  millions,  and 
legions  of  millions,  that  is  no  part  of  my  present 
inquiry ;  Satan,  the  leader,  guide  and  superior,  as  he 
was  author  of  the  celestial  rebellion,  is  still  the  great 
head  and  master-devil  as  before;  under  his  authority 
they  still  act,  not  ^obeying,  but  carrying  on  the  same 
•insurrection  against  God,  which  they  began  in  heaven ; 
making  war  still  against  heaven,  in  the  person  of  his 
image  and  creature,  man ;  and  though  vanquished  by 
the  thunder  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  cast  down  head- 
long from  heaven,  they  have  yet  reassumed,  or  rather 
not  lost,  either  the  will  or  the  power  of  doing  evil. 

This  fall  of  the  angels,  with  the  war  in  heaven 
which  preceded  it,  is  finely  described  by  Ovid,  in  his 
Avar  of  the  Titans  against  Jupiter ;  casting  mountain 
upon  mountain,  and  hill  upon  hill,  (Pelion  upon  Ossa,) 
in  order  to  scale  the  adamantine  walls,  and  break  open 
the  gates  of  heaven;  till  Jupiter  struck  them  with  his 
thunder-bolts,  and  overwhelmed  them  in  the  abyss. 

Vide  Ovid  Metam.,  new  translation,  lib.  i.  p.  19. 

"  Nor  were  the  gods  themselves  secure  on  high  ; 
For  now  the  giants  strove  to  storm  the  sky  : 
The  lawless  brood  with  bold  attempt  invade 
The  gods,  and  mountains  upon  mountains  laid. 

again,  (Acts  xiii.  33,)  intended  it  to  be  understood  of  the  resurrection  ; 
and  there  is  ground  for  it  in  the  context ;  for  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
is  that  which  St.  Paul  had  propounded  in  verse  30  of  the  same  chapter, 
as  his  theme  or  argument  to  preach  upon. 

Not  that  Christ  at  his  resurrection  began  to.  be  the  Son  of  God,  but 
that  he  was  manifested  then  to  be  so. 


28  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

But  now  the  bolt,  enrag'd,  the  Father  took  : 
Olympus  from  her  deep  foundations  shook  : 
Her  structure  nodded  at  the  mighty  stroke, 
And  Ossa's  shatter'd  top  o'er  Pelion  broke  : 
They  're  in  their  own  ungodly  ruins  slain." 

Then  again  speaking  of  Jupiter,  resolving  in  coun- 
cil to  destroy  mankind  by  the  deluge,  and  giving  the 
reasons  of  it  to  the  heavenly  host,  says  thus,  speaking 
of  the  demigods,  alluding  to  good  men  below  : 

"  Think  you  that  they  in  safety  can  remain, 
When  me  myself,  who  o'er  immortals  reign, 
Who  send  the  lightning,  and  heaven's  empire  sway, 
The  stern  Lycaon*  practis'd  to  betray." 

Ib.  p.  10. 

Since  then  so  much  poetic  liberty  is  taken  with  the 
Devil,  relating  to  his  most  early  state,  and  the  time 
before  his  fall,  give  me  leave  to  make  an  excursion  of 
the  like  kind,  relating  to  his  history  immediately  after 
the  fall,  and  till  the  creation  of  man ;  an  interval  which 
I  think  much  of  the  Devil's  story  is  to  be  seen  in,  andf 
which  Mr.  Milton  has  taken  little  notice  of;  at  least  it 
does  not  seem  completely  filled  up  ;  after  which  I  shall 
return  to  honest  prose  again,  and  pursue  the  duty  of 
an  historian. 

Satan,  with  hideous  ruin  thus  supprest, 
Expell'd  the  seat  of  blessedness  and  rest, 
Looked  back,  and  saw  the  high  eternal  mound, 
Where  all  his  rebel  host  their  outlet  found, 
Eestored  impregnable  :  the  breach  made  up, 
And  garrisons  of  angels  ranged  a-top  • 
In  front  an  hundred  thousand  thunders  roll, 
And  lightnings  temper'd  to  transfix  a  soul, 
Terror  of  devils.     Satan  and  his  host, 
Now  to  themselves  as  well  as  station  lost, 
Unable  to  support  the  hated  sight, 
Expand  seraphic  wings,  and  swift  as  light 
Seek  for  new  safety  in  eternal  night. 

In  the  remotest  gulfs  of  dark  they  land  : 
Here  vengeance  gives  them  leave  to  make  their  stand  : 
Not  that  to  steps  and  measures  they  pretend, 
Councils  and  schemes  their  station  to  defend  ; 
But  broken,  disconcerted,  and  dismayed, 
By  guilt  and  fright  to  guilt  and  fright  betrayed  j 
Kage  and  confusion  ev'ry  spirit  possessed, 
And  shame  and  horror  swelled  in  ev'ry  breast  j 

*  Satan. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Transforming  envy  their  essentials  burns, 
And  the  bright  angel  a  frightful  devil  turns. 

Thus  hell  began  j  the  fire  of  conscious  rage 
No  years  can  quench,  no  length  of  time  assuage. 
Material  fire,  with  its  intensest  flame, 
Compar'd  with  this,  can  scarce  deserve  a  name  ; 
How  should  it  up  to  immaterials  rise  ? 
"When  we  're  all  flame,  we  shall  all  fire  despise. 

This  fire  outrageous,  and  its  heat  intense, 
Turns  all  the  pain  of  loss  to  pain  of  sense, 
The  folding  flames  concave  and  inward  roll, 
Act  upon  spirit,  and  penetrate  the  soul : 
Not  force  of  devils  can  its  new  pow'rs  repel, 
Where'er  it  burns  it  finds  or  makes  a  hell : 
For  Satan,  flaming  with  unquenched  desire, 
Forms  his  own  hell,  and  kindles  his  own  fire  : 
Vanquished,  not  humbled,  not  in  will  brought  low  3 
But,  as  his  pow'rs  decline,  his  passions  grow : 
The  malice,  viper-like,  takes  vent  within, 
Gnaws  its  own  bowels,  and  bursts  in  its  own  sin : 
Impatient  of  the  change,  he  scorns  to  bow  : 
And  never  impotent  in  power  till  now  ; 
Ardent  with  hate,  and  with  revenge  distract, 
A  will  to  new  attempts,  but  none  to  act ; 
Yet  all  seraphic,  and  in  just  degree, 
Suited  to  spirits'  high  sense  of  misery, 
Derived  from  loss  which  nothing  can  repair, 
And  room  for  nothing  left  but  mere  despair. 
Here 's  finish'd  Hell !  what  fiercer  fire  can  burn  ? 
Enough  ten  thousand  worlds  to  overturn. 

Hell 's  but  the  phrensy  of  defeated  pride, 
Seraphic  treason's  strong  impetuous  tide, 
Where  vile  ambition  disappointed  first, 
To  its  own  rage,  and  boundless  hatred,  cursed  j 
The  hate 's  fann'd  up  to  fury,  that  to  flame  ; 
For  fire  and  fury  are  in  kind  the  same  ; 
These  burn  unquenchable  in  ev'ry  face, 
And  the  word  ENDLESS  constitutes  the  place. 

0  state  of  being  !  where  being 's  the  only  grief, 
And  the  chief  torture 's  to  be  damn'd  to  life  ! 
0  life  !  the  only  thing  they  have  to  hate  ; 
The  finish'd  torment  of  a  future  state  ; 
Complete  in  all  the  parts  of  endless  misery, 
And  worse  ten  thousand  times  than  not  to  BE  ! 
Could  but  the  damn'd  th'  immortal  law  repeal, 
And  devils  die,  there  'd  be  an  end  of  Hell ; 
Could  they  that  thing  called  being  annihilate, 
There  'd  be  no  sorrows  in  a  future  state  ; 
The  wretch  whose  crimes  had  shut  him  out  on  high, 
Could  be  reveng'd  on  God  himself,  and  die  : 
Job's  wife  was  in  the  right,  and  always  we 
Might  end  by  death  all  human  misery  ; 
Might  have  it  in  our  choice,  to  be  or  not  to  be. 


30  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Of  the  name  of  the  Devil,  his  original,  and  the  nature 
of  his  circumstances  since  he  has  been  called  by  that 
name. 

THE  scripture  is  the  first  writing  on  earth  where  we 
find  the  Devil  called  by  his  own  proper  distinguishing 
denomination,  DEVIL,  or  the  Destroyer  ;*  nor  indeed  is 
there  any  other  author  of  antiquity,  or  of  sufficient 
authority,  which  says  anything  of  that  kind  about 
him. 

Here  he  makes  .his  first  appearance  in  the  world, 
and  on  that  occasion  he  is  called  the  Serpent ;  but  the 
Serpent,  however  since  made  to  signify  the  Devil,  when 
spoken  of  in  general  terms,  was  but  the  Devil's  repre- 
sentative, or  the  Devil  in  qnovis  vehiculo,  for  that  time, 
clothed  in  a  bodily  shape,  acting  under  cover,  and  in 
disguise,  or,  if  you  will,  the  Devil  in  masquerade  :  nay, 
if  we  believe  Mr.  Milton,  the  angel  Gabriel's  spear 
had  such  a  secret  powerful  influence,  as  to  make  him 
strip  of  a  sudden,  and  with  a  touch  to  unmask,  and 
stand  upright  in  his  naked  original  shape,  mere  Devil, 
without  any  disguises  whatsoever. 

Now  as  we  go  to  the  scripture  for  much  of  his  his- 
tory, so  we  must  go  there  also  for  some  of  his  names ; 
and  he  has  a  great  variety  of  names  indeed,  as  his 
several  mischievous  doings  guide  us  to  conceive  of 
him.  The  truth  is,  all  the  ancient  names  given  him, 
of  which  the  scripture  is  full,  seem  to  be  originals 
derived  from,  and  adapted  to,  the  several  steps  he  has 
taken,  and  the  several  shapes  he  has  appeared  in,  to 
do  mischief  in  the  world. 

Here  he  is  called  the  Serpent,  Gen.  iii.  1. 
The  Old  Serpent,  Rev.  xii.  9. 
The  Great  Red  Dragon,  Rev.  xii.  3. 

*  The  meaning  of  the  word  Devil  is  destroyer.  See  Pool  upon  Acts 
xiii.  10. 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  31 

The  Accuser  of  the  Brethren,  Rev.  xii.  10. 

The  Enemy,  Matt.  xiii.  39. 

Satan,  Job  i.,  Zech.  iii.  1,  2. 

Belial,  2  Cor.  vi.  15. 

Beelze&ub,  Matt.  xii.  24. 

Mammon,  Matt.  vi.  24. 

The  £ngel  of  Light,  2  Cor.  xi.  14. 

The  Angel  of  the  Bottomless  Pit,  Rev.  ix.  11. 

The  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air,  Eph.  ii.  2. 

Lucifer,  Isa.  xiv.  12. 

Abaddon  or  Apollyon,  Rev.  ix.  11. 

Legion,  Mark  y.  9.   

jOKe  God  of  this  World,  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 
The  Foul  Spirit,  Mark  ix.  25. 
t3Tie  Unclean  Spirit,  Mark  i.  27. 
The  Lying  Spirit,  2  Chron.  xxx. 
The  Tempter,  Matt.  iv.  3. 
The  Son  of  the  Morning,  Isa.  xiv.  12. 

But  to  sum  them  all  up  in  one,  he  is  called  in  the  New 
Testament  plain  DEVIL  ;  all  his  other  names  are  varied 
according  to  the  custom  of  speech,  and  the  dialects  of 
the  several  nations  where  he  is  spoken  of:  but  in  a 
word,  Devil  is  the  common  name  of  the  Devil  in  all 
the  known  languages  of  the  earth.  Nay,  all  the  mis- 
chiefs he  is  empowered  to  do,  are  in  scripture  placed  to 
his  account,  under  the  particular  title  of  the  Devil,  not 
of  Devils  in  the  plural  number,  though  they  are  some- 
times mentioned  too ;  but  in  the  singular  it  is  the  iden- 
tical individual  Devil,  in  and  under  whom  all  the  little 
Devils,  and  all  the  great  Devils,  if  such  there  fye,  are 
supposed  to  act;  nay,  they  are  supposed  to  be  gov- 
erned arid  directed  by  him.  Thus  we  are  told  in  scrip- 
ture of  the  works  of  the  Devil,  1  John  iii.  8 ;  of  cast- 
ing out  the  Devil,  Mark  i.  34;  of  resisting  the  Devi], 
James  iv.  7  ;  of  our  Saviour  being  tempted  of  the 
Devil,  Matt.  iv.  1 ;  of  Simon  Magus,  a  child  of  the 
Devil,  Acts  xiii.  10;  the  Devil  came  down  in  great 
wrath,  Rev.  xii.  12 ;  and  the  like.  According  to  this 
usage  in  speech  we  go  on  to  this  day,  and  all  the  infer- 
nal things  we  converse  with  in  the  world,  are  fathered 
upon  the  Devil,  as  one  undivided  simple  essence,  by 
how  many  agents  soever  working  :  everything  evil, 


64,  THE    H1STOKY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

frightful  in  appearance,  wicked  in  its  actings,  horrible 
in  its  manner,  monstrous  in  its  effects,  is  called  the 
Devil ;  in  a  word,  Devil  is  a  common  name  for  all 
devils  ;  that  is  to  say,  for  all  evil  spirits,  all  evil  pow- 
ers, all  evil  works,  and  even  all  evil  things :  yet  it  is 
remarkable  the  Devil  is  no  Old  Testament  word,  and 
we  never  find  it  used  in  all  that  part  of  the  Bible  but 
four  times,  and  then  not  once  in  the  singular  number, 
and  not  once  to  signify  Satan  as  it  is  now  understood. 

It  is  true  the  learned  give  a  great  many  differing 
interpretations  of  the  word  Devil ;  the  English  com- 
mentators tell  us,  it  means  a  destroyer,  others  that  it 
signifies  a  deceiver,  and  the  Greeks  derive  it  from 
a  calumniator,  or  false  witness  ;  for  we  find  that 
Calumny  was  a  goddess,  to  whom  the  Athenians  built 
altars,  and  offered  sacrifices,  upon  some  solemn  occa- 
sions ;  and  they  call  her  Jia^ol^  from  whence  came 
the  masculine  dinSoloq,  which  we  translate  Devil. 

Thus  we  take  the  name  of  Devil  to  signify  not  per- 
sons only,  but  actions  and  habits ;  making  imaginary 
devils,  and  transforming  that  substantial  creature 
called  Devil  into  everything  noxious  and  offensive  : 
thus,  St.  Francis  being  tempted  by  the  Devil  in  the 
shape  of  a  bag  of  money  lying  in  the  highway,  the 
Saint  having  discovered  the  fraud,  whether  seeing  his 
cloven-foot  hang  out  of  the  purse,  or  whether  he  dis- 
tinguished him  by  his  smell  of  sulphur,  or  how  other- 
wise, authors  are  not  agreed;  but  I  say,  the  Saint, 
having  discovered  the  cheat,  and  outwitted  the  Devil, 
took  occasion  to  preach  that  eminent  sermon  to  his 
disciples,  where  his  text  was,  Money  is  the  Devil. 

Nor,  upon  the  whole,  is  any  wrong  done  to  the 
Devil  by  this  kind  of  treatment ;  it  only  gives  him  the 
sovereignty  of  the  whole  army  of  hell  ;  and,  making 
all  the  numberless  legions  of  the  bottomless  pit  ser- 
vants, or,  as  the  scripture  calls  them,  angels,  to  Satan, 
the  grand  devil,  all  their  actions,  performances  and 
achievements,  are  justly  attributed  to  him,  not  as  the 
prince  of  devils  only,  but  the  emperor  of  devils  ;  the 
prince  of  all  the  princes  of  devils. 

Under  this  denomination,  then,  of  Devil,  all  the 
powers  of  hell,  all  the  princes  of  the  air,  all  the  black 
armies  of  Satan,  are  comprehended ;  and  in  such  man- 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  33 

ner  they  are  to  be  understood  in  this  whole  work, 
mutatis  mutandis,  according  to  the  several  circum- 
stances of  which  we  are  to  speak  of  them. 

This  being  premised,  and  my  authority  being  so 
good,  Satan  must  not  take  it  ill,  if  I  treat  him  after  the 
manner  of  men,  and  give  him  those  titles  which  he  is 
best  known  by  among  us ;  for  indeed,  having  so  many, 
it  is  not  very  easy  to  call  him  out  of  his  name. 

However,  as  I  am  obliged  by  the  duty  of  an  his- 
torian to  decency  as  well  as  impartiality,  so  I  thought 
it  necessary,  before  I  used  too  much  freedom  with 
Satan,  to  produce  authentic  documents,  and  bring  an- 
tiquity upon  the  stage,  to  justify  the  manner  of  my 
writing,  and  let  you  see  I  shall  describe  him  in  no 
colors,  nor  call  him  by  any  name,  but  what  he  has  been 
known  by  for  many  ages  before  me. 

And  now,  though,  writing  to  the  common  under- 
standing of  my  readers,  I  am  obliged  to  treat  Satan 
very  coarsely,  and  to  speak  of  him  in  the  common 
acceptation,  calling  him  plain  Devil,  a  word  which  in 
this  mannerly  age  is  not  so  sonorous  as  others  might 
be,  and  which  by  the  error  of  the  times  is  apt  to  preju- 
dice- us  against  his  person ;  yet  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged he  has  a  great  many  other  names  and  surnames 
which  he  might  be  known  by,  of  a  less  obnoxious  im- 
port than  that  of  Devil  or  Destroyer,  &c. 

Mr.  Milton,  indeed,  wanting  titles  of  honor  to  give  to 
the  leaders  of  Satan's  host,  is  obliged  to  borrow  several 
of  his  scripture  names,  and  bestow  them  upon  his  infer- 
nal heroes,  whom  he  makes  the  generals  and  leaders 
of  the  armies  of  hell ;  and  so  he  makes  Beelzebub, 
Lucifer,  Belial,  Mammon,  and  some  others,  to  be  the 
names  of  particular  devils,  members  of  Satan's  upper 
house,  or  Pandemonium  ;  whereas  indeed,  these  are  all 
names  proper  and  peculiar  to  Satan  himself. 

The  scripture  also  has  some  names  of  a  coarser 
kind,  by  which  the  Devil  is  understood,  as  particularly, 
which  is  noted  already,  in  the  Apocalypse  he  is  called 
the  Great  Red  Dragon,  the  Beast,  the  Old  Serpent,  and 
the  like.  But  take  it  in  the  scripture,  or  where  you 
will  in  history  sacred  or  profane,  you  will  find  that  in 
general  the  Devil  is,  as  I  have  said  above,  his  ordinary 
name  in  all  languages,  and  in  all  nations ;  the  name 


34  THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

by  which  he  and  his  works  are  principally  distin- 
guished :  also  the,  scripture,  besides  that  it  often  gives 
him  this  name,  speaks  of  the  works  of  the  Devil,  of 
the  subtilty  of  the  Devil,  of  casting  out  Devils,  of 
being  tempted  of  the  Devil,  of  being  possessed  with  a 
Devil ;  and  so  many  other  expressions  of  that  kind,  as 
I  have  said  already,  are  made  use  of  for  us  to  under- 
stand the  evil  spirit  by,  that,  in  a  word,  Devil  is  the 
common  name  of  all  wicked  spirits  :  for  Satan  is  no 
more  the  Devil,  as  if  he  alone  was  so,  and  all  the  rest 
were  a  diminutive  species  who  did  not  go  by  that 
name ;  but,  I  say,  even  in  scripture,  every  spirit, 
whether  under  his  dominion,  or  out  of  his  dominion,  is 
called  the  Devil,  and  is  as  much  a  real  devil,  that  is  to 
say,  a  condemned  spirit,  and  employed  in  the  same 
wicked  work,  as  Satan  himself. 

His  name  then  being  thus  ascertained,  and  his 
existence  acknowledged,  it  should  be  a  little  inquired, 
what  he  is.  We  believe  there  is  such  a  thing,  such  a 
creature,  as  the  Devil  ;  and  that  he  has  been,  and 
may  still  with  propriety  of  speech,  and  without  injus- 
tice to  his  character,  be  called  by  his  ancient  name, 
Devil. 

But  who  is  he  ?  What  is  his  original  ?  Whence  came 
he  ?  And  what  is  his  present  station  and  condition  ? 
For  these  things,  and  these  inquiries,  are  very  neces- 
sary to  his  history;  nor  indeed  can  any  part  of  his 
history  be  complete  without  them. 

That  he  is  of  an  ancient  and  noble  original  must  be 
acknowledged ;  for  he  is  heaven-born  and  of  angelic 
race,  as  has  been  touched  already :  if  scripture  evi- 
dence may  be  of  any  weight  in  the  question,  there  is 
no  room  to  doubt  the  genealogy  of  the  Devil ;  he  is  not 
only  spoken  of  as  an  angel,  but  as  a  fallen  angel,  one 
that  had  been  in  heaven,  had  beheld  the  face  of  God 
in  his  full  effulgence  of  glory,  and  had  surrounded  the 
throne  of  the  Most  High  ;  from  whence,  commencing 
rebel,  and  being  expelled,  he  was  cast  down,  down, 
down,  God  and  the  Devil  himself  only  know  where; 
for  indeed  we  cannot  say  that  any  man  on  earth 
knows  it;  and  wherever  it  is,  he  has  ever  since  man's 
creation  been  a  plague  to  him,  been  a  tempter,  a 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  35 

delnder,  a  calumniator,  an  enemy,  and  the  object  of 
man's  horror  and  aversion. 

As  his  original  is  heaven-born,  and  his  race  angelic  ; 
so  the  angelic  nature  is  evidently  placed  in  a  class 
superior  to  the  human  ;  and  this  the  scripture  is 
express  in  also,  when,  speaking  of  man,  it  says,  he 
made  him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels. 

Thus  the  Devil,  as  mean  thoughts  as  you  may  have 
of  him,  is  of  a  better  family  than  any  of  you,  nay, 
than  the  best  gentleman  of  you  all ;  what  he  may  be 
fallen  to,  is  one  thing,  but  what  he  is  fallen  from,  is 
another. 

Nor  is  the  scripture  more  an  help  to  us  in  the  search 
after  the  Devil's  original,  than  it  is  in  our  search  after 
his  nature.  It  is  true,  authors  are  not  agreed  about  his 
age,  what  time  he  was  created,  how  many  years  he 
enjoyed  his  state  of  blessedness  before  he  fell ;  or  how 
many  years  he  continued  with  his  whole  army  in  a 
state  of  darkness,  and  before  the  creation  of  man. 
It  is  supposed  it  might  be  a  considerable  space ;  and 
that  it  was  a  part  of  his  punishment  too,  being  all  the 
while  unactive,  unemployed,  having  no  business,  noth- 
ing to  do  but  gnawing  his  own  bowels,  and  rolling  in 
the  agony  of  his  own  self-reproaches,  being  an  hell 
to  himself  in  reflecting  on  the  glorious  state  from 
whence  he  was  fallen. 

How  long  he  remained  thus,  it  is  true,  we  have  no 
light  into  from  history,  and  but  little  from  tradition : 
Rabbi  Judah  says,  the  Jews  were  of  the  opinion,  that 
he  remained  twenty  thousand  years  in  that  condition ; 
and  that  the  world  shall  continue  twenty  thousand 
more,  in  which  he  shall  find  work  enough  to  satisfy 
his  mischievous  desires ;  but  he  shows  no  authority  for 
his  opinion. 

Indeed,  let  the  Devil  have  been  as  idle  as  they  think 
he  was  before,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  now  he 
is  the  most  busy,  vigilant  and  diligent  of  all  God's 
creatures,  and  very  full  of  employment  too,  such  as 
it  is. 

Scripture,  indeed,  gives  us  light  into  the  enmity 
there  is  between  the  two  natures,  the  diabolical  and 
the  human ;  the  reason  of  it,  and  how  arid  by  what 
means  the  power  of  the  Devil  is  restrained  by  the 


36 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 


Messias ;  and  to  those  who  are  willing  to  trust  to  gos- 
pel light,  and  believe  what  the  scripture  says  of  the 
DevilJ"  there  may  much  of  his  history  be  discovered, 
and  therefore  those  that  list  may  go  there  for  a  fuller 
account  of  the  matter. 

But  to  reserve  all  scripture  evidence  of  these  things, 
as  a  magazine  in  store  for  the  use  of  those  with  whom 
scripture  testimony  is  of  force,  I  must,  for  the  present, 
turn  to  other  inquiries,  being  now  directing  my  story 
to  an  age,  wherein  to  be  driven  to  revelation  and 
scripture  assertions  is  esteemed  giving  up  the  dispute ; 
people  now-a-days  must  have  demonstration;  and,  in 
a  word,  nothing  will  satisfy  the  age,  but  such  evidence 
as  perhaps  the  nature  of  the  question  will  not  admit. 

It  is  hard,  indeed,  to  bring  demonstrations  in  such  a 
case  as  this  :  No  man  has  seen  God  at  any  time,  says 
the  scripture,  (1  John  iv.  12.)  So  the  Devil,  being  a 
spirit  incorporeal,  an  angel  of  light,  and  consequently 
not  visible  in  his  own  substance,  nature  and  form,  it 
may  in  some  sense  be  said,  no  man  hath  seen  the  Devil 
at  any  time;  all  those  pretences  of  phrensiful  and  fan- 
ciful people,  who  tell  us,  they  have  seen  the  Devil,  I 
shall  examine,  and  perhaps  expose  by  themselves. 

It  might  take  up  a  great  deal  of  our  time  here,  to 
inquire  whether  the  Devil  has  any  particular  shape,  or 
personality  of  substance,  which  can  be  visible  to  us. 
felt,  heard,  or  understood,  and  which  he  cannot  alter; 
arid  then,  what  shapes  or  appearances  the  Devil  has 
at  any  time  taken  upon  him ;  and  whether  he  can 
really  appear  in  a  body  which  might  be  handled  and 
seen,  and  yet  so  as  to  know  it  to  have  been  the  Devil 
at  the  time  of  his  appearing ;  but  this  also  I  defer,  as 
not  of  weight  in  the  present  inquiry. 

We  have  divers  accounts  of  witches  conversing  with 
the  Devil  ;  the  Devil  in  a  real  body,  with  all  the 
appearance  of  a  body  of  a  man  or  woman  appearing 
to  them ;  also  of  having  a  familiar,  as  they  call  it,  an 
incubus  or  little  devil,  which  sucks  their  bodies,  runs 
away  with  them  into  the  air,  and  the  like  :  much  of 
this  is  said,  but  much  more  than  it  is  easy  to  prove ; 
and  we  ought  to  give  but  a  just  proportion  of  credit  to 
those  things. 
I  As  to  his  borrowed  shapes,  and  his  subtle  transform- 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  37 

ings,  that  we  have  such  open  testimony  of,  that  there 
is  no  room  for  any  question  about  it;  and  when  I  come 
to  that  part,  I  shall  be  obliged  rather  to  give  an  his- 
tory of  the  fact,  than  enter  into  any  dissertation  upon 
the  nature  and  reason  of  it. 

I  do  not  find  in  any  author  whom  we  can  call  cred- 
itable, that  even  in  those  countries  where  the  dominion 
of  Satan  is  more  particularly  established,  and  where 
they  may  be  said  to  worship  him  in  a  more  particular 
manner,  as  a  Devil ;  which  some  tell  us  the  Indians 
in  America  did,  who  worshipped  the  Devil,  that  he 
might  not  hurt  them;  yet,  I  say,  I  do  not  find,  that 
even  there  the  Devil  appeared  to  them  in  any  particu- 
lar constant  shape  or  personality  peculiar  to  himself. 

Scripture  and  history,  therefore,  giving  us  no  light 
into  that  part  of  the  question,  I  conclude,  and  lay  it 
down,  not  as  my  opinion  only,  but  as  what  all  ages 
seem  to  concur  in,  that  the  Devil  has  no  particular 
body;  that  he  is  a  spirit;  and  that  though  he  may, 
Proteus  like,  assume  the  appearance  of  either  man  or 
beast,  yet  it  must  be  some  borrowed  shape,  some 
assumed  figure ;  and  that  he  has  no  visible  body  of 
his  own. 

I  thought  it  needful  to  discuss  this  as  a  preliminary, 
and  that  the  next  discourse  might  go  upon  a  certainty 
in  this  grand  point ;  namely,  that  the  Devil,  however 
lie  may  for  his  particular  occasions  put  himself  into  a 
great  many  shapes,  and  clothe  himself,  perhaps,  with 
what  appearances  he  pleases,  yet  that  he  is  himself 
still  a  mere  spirit,  that  he  retains  the  seraphic  nature, 
is  not  visible  by  our  eyes,  which  are  human  and 
organic,  neither  can  he  act  with  the  ordinary  powers, 
or  in  the  ordinary  manner,  as  bodies  do  ;  and  there- 
fore, when  he  has  thought  fit  to  descend  to  the  mean- 
nesses of  disturbing  and  frightening  children  and  old 
women,  by  noises  and  knockings,  dislocating  the 
chairs  and  stools,  breaking  windows,  and  such  like 
little  ambulatory  things,  which  would  seem  to  be 
below  the  dignity  of  his  character,  and  which,  in  par- 
ticular, are.  ordinarily  performed  by  organic  powers  ; 
yet  even  then  he  has  thought  fit  not  to  be  seen,  and 
rather  to  make  the  poor  people  believe  he  had  a  real 
shape  and  body,  with  hands  to  act,  mouth  to  speak, 


38  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

and  the  like,  than  to  give  proof  of  it  in  common  to  the 
whole  world,  by  showing  himself,  and  acting,  visibly 
and  openly,  as  a  body  usually  and  ordinarily  does. 

Nor  is  it  any  disadvantage  to  the  Devil,  that  his 
seraphic  nature  is  not  confined  or  imprisoned  in  a  body 
or  shape,  suppose  that  shape  to  be  what  monstrous 
thing  we  would  ;  for  this  would,  indeed,  confine  his 
actings  within  the  narrow  sphere  of  the  organ  or  body 
to  which  he  was  limited  ;  and  though  you  were  to 
suppose  the  body  to  have  wings  for  a  velocity  of 
motion  equal  to  spirit,  yet  if  it  had  not  a  power  of  in- 
visibility too,  and  a  capacity  of  conveying  itself,  undis- 
covered, into  all  the  secret  recesses  of  mankind,  and 
the  same  secret  art  or  capacity  of  insinuation,  sugges- 
tion, accusation,  &c.  by  which  his  wicked  designs  are 
now  propagated,  and  all  his  other  devices  assisted,  by 
which  he  deludes  and  betrays  mankind  ;  I  say,  he 
would  be  no  more  a  Devil,  that  is,  a  destroyer,  no 
more  a  deceiver,  and  no  more  a  Satan,  that  is,  a  dan- 
gerous arch-enemy  to  the  souls  of  men :  nor  would  it 
be  any  difficulty  to  mankind  to  shun  and  avoid  him, 
as  I  shall  make  plain  in  the  other  part  of  his  history. 

Had  the  Devil  from  the  beginning  been  embodied, 
as  he  could  not  have  been  invisible  to  us,  whose  souls 
equally  seraphic  are  only  prescribed  by  being  embodied 
and  encased  in  flesh  and  blood  as  we  are  ;  so  he  would 
have  been  no  more  a  Devil  to  any  body  but  himself: 
the  imprisonment  in  a  body,  had  the  powers  of  that 
body  been  all  that  we  can  conceive  to  make  him  for- 
midable to  us,  would  yet  have  been  an  hell  to  him  : 
consider  him  as  a  conquered,  exasperated  rebel,  retain- 
ing all  that  fury,  and  swelling  ambition,  that  hatred 
of  God,  and  envy  at  his  creatures,  which  dwells  now 
in  his  enraged  spirit  as  a  Devil ;  yet  suppose  him  to 
have  been  condemned  to  organic  powers,  confined  to 
corporeal  motion,  and  restrained  as  a  body  must  be 
supposed  to  restrain  a  spirit;  it  must,  at  the  same  time, 
suppose  him  to  be  effectually  disabled  from  all  the 
methods  he  is  now  allowed  to  make  use  of,  for  exert- 
ing his  rage  and  enmity  against  God,  any  farther  than 
as  he  might  suppose  it  to  affect  his  Maker  at  second 
hand,  by  wounding  his  glory  through  the  sides  of  his 
weakest  creature,  man. 


THE   HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  39 

He  must,  certainly,  be  thus  confined,  because  body 
'can  only  act  upon  body,  not  upon  spirit  ;  no  species 
being  empowered  to  act  out  of  the  compass  of  its  own 
sphere:  he  might  have  been  empoAvered.  indeed,  to 
have  acted  terrible  and  even  destructive  things  upon 
mankind,  especially  if  this  body  had  any  powers  given 
it  which  mankind  had  riot,  by  which  man  would  be 
overmatched,  and  not  be  in  a  condition  of  self-defence: 
for  example,  suppose  him  to  have  had  wings  to  have 
flown  in  the  air;  or  to  be  invulnerable;  and  that  no 
human  invention,  art  or  engine,  could  hurt,  ensnare, 
captivate  or  restrain  him. 

But  this  is  to  suppose  the  righteous  and  wise  Creator 
to  have  made  a  creature,  and  not  be  able  to  defend 
and  preserve  him  ;  or  to  have  left  him  defenceless  to 
the  mercy  of  another  of  his  own  creatures,  whom  he 
had  given  power  to  destroy  him  :  this  indeed  might 
have  occasioned  a  general  idolatry,  and  made  man- 
kind, as  the  American  Indians  do  to  this  day,  worship 
the  Devil,  that  he  might  not  hurt  them;  but  it  could 
not  have  prevented  the  destruction  of  mankind,  sup- 
posing the  Devil  to  have  had  malice  equal  to  his  power ; 
and  he  must  put  on  a  new  nature,  be  compassionate, 
generous,  beneficent,  and  steadily  good,  in  sparing  the 
rival  enemy  he  was  able  to  destroy,  or  he  must  have 
ruined  mankind :  in  short,  he  must  have  ceased  to 
have  been  a  Devil,  and  must  have  reassumed  his 
original,  angelic,  heavenly  nature  ;  been  filled  with 
the  principles  of  love  to,  and  delight  in,  the  works  of 
his  creator,  and  bent  to  propagate  his  glory  and  inter- 
est; or  he  must  have  put  an  end  to  the  race  of  man, 
whom  it  would  be  in  his  power  to  destroy,  and  oblige 
his  Maker  to  create  a  new  species,  or  fortify  the  old 
with  some  kind  of  defence,  which  must  be  invulner- 
able, and  which  his  fiery  darts  could  not  penetrate. 

On  this  occasion,  suffer  me  to  make  an  excursion, 
from  the  usual  style  of  this  work,  and  with  some 
solemnity  to  express  my  thoughts  thus  : 

How  glorious  is  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the 
great  Creator  of  the  world!  in  thus  restraining  these 
seraphic  outcasts  from  the  power  of  assuming  human 
or  organic  bodies !  which  could  they  do,  invigorating 
them  with  the  supernatural  powers,  which,  as  seraphs 


40  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

and  angels,  they  now  possess,  and  might  exert,  they 
would  be  able  even  to  fright  mankind  from  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  to  destroy  and  confound  God's  creation ; 
nay,  even  as  they  are,  were  not  their  power  limited, 
they  might  destroy  the  creation  itself,  reverse  and  over- 
turn nature,  and  put  the  world  into  a  general  confla- 
gration :  but  were  those  immortal  spirits  embodied, 
though  they  were  not  permitted  to  confound  nature, 
they  would  be  able  to  harass  poor,  weak  and  defence- 
less man  out  of  his  wits,  and  render  him  perfectly  use- 
less, either  to  his  Maker  or  himself. 

But  the  dragon  is  chained,  the  Devil's  power  is  lim- 
ited ;  he  has,  indeed,  a  vastly  extended  empire,  being 
prince  of  the  air,  having,  at  least,  the  whole  atmos- 
phere to  range  in  ;  and  how  far  that  atmosphere  is  ex- 
tended, is  not  yet  ascertained  by  the  nicest  observa- 
tions ;  I  say  at  least,  because  we  do  not  yet  know  how 
far  he  may  be  allowed  to  make  excursions  beyond  the 
atmosphere  of  this  globe  into  the  planetary  worlds,  and 
what  power  he  may  exercise  in  all  the  habitable  parts 
of  the  solar  system  ;  nay,  of  all  the  other  solar  systems, 
which,  for  aught  we  know,  may  exist  in  the  mighty 
extent  of  created  space,  and  of  which  you  may  hear 
farther  in  its  order. 

But  let  his  power  be  what  it  will  there,  we  are  sure 
it  is  limited  here,  and  that  in  two  particulars ;  first,  he 
is  limited,  as  above,  from  assuming  body,  or  bodily 
shapes,  with  substance ;  and  secondly,  from  exerting 
seraphic  powers,  and  acting  with  that  supernatural 
force,  which,  as  an  angel,  he  was  certainly  vested  with 
before  the  fall,  and  which  we  are  not  certain  is  yet 
taken  from  him ;  or,  at  most,  we  do  not  know  how 
much  it  may  or  may  not  be  diminished  by  his  degen- 
eracy, and  by  the  blow  given  him  at  his  expulsion : 
this  we  are  certain,  that  be  his  power  greater  or  less, 
he  is  restrained  from  the  exercise  of  it  in  this  world ; 
and  he,  who  was  once  equal  to  the  angel  who  killed 
180,000  men  in  one  night,  is  not  able  now,  without  a 
new  commission,  to  take  away  the  life  of  one  Job,  nor 
touch  anything  he  had. 

But  let  us  consider  him  then  limited  and  restrained 
as  he  is,  yet  he  remains  a  mighty,  a  terrible,  an  im- 
mortal being  ;  infinitely  superior  to  man,  as  well  in  the 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  41 

dignity  of  his  nature,  as  in  the  dreadful  powers  he 
retains  still  about  him.  It  is  true  the  brain-sick  heads 
of  our  enthusiastics  paint  him  blacker  than  he  is;  and, 
as  I  have  said,  wickedly  represent  him  clothed  with 
terrors  that  do  not  really  belong  to  him  ;  as  if  the  power 
of  good  and  evil  was  wholly  vested  in  him,  and  that 
he  was  placed  in  the  throne  of  his  Maker,  to  distribute 
both  punishments  and  rewards:  in  this  they  are  much 
wrong,  terrifying  and  deluding  fanciful  people  about 
him,  till  they  turn  their  heads,  and  fright  them  into  a 
belief  that  the  Devil  will  let  them  alone,  if  they  do 
such  and  such  good  things;  or  carry  them  away  with 
him  they  know  not  whither,  if  they  do  not;  as  if  the 
Devil,  whose  proper  business  is  mischief,  seducing  and 
deluding  mankind,  and  drawing  them  in  to  be  rebels 
like  himself,  should  threaten  to  seize  upon  them,  carry 
them  away,  and,  in  a  word,  fall  upon  them  to  hurt 
them,  if  they  did  evil ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  be  favor- 
able and  civil  to  them,  if  they  did  well. 

Thus  a  poor  deluded  country  fellow  in  our  town, 
that  had  lived  a  wicked,  abominable,  debauched  life, 
was  frightened  with  an  apparition,  as  he  called  it,  of 
the  Devil :  he  fancied  that  he  spoke  to  him,  and,  tell- 
ing his  tale  to  a  good,  honest  Christian  gentleman,  his 
neighbor,  that  had  a  little  more  sense  than  himself;  the 
gentleman  asked  him  if  he  was  sure  he  really  saw  the 
Devil?  "Yes,  yes,  sir,"  says  he,  "I  saw  him  very 
plain."  And  so  they  began  the  following  discourse  : 

Gentleman.  See  him !  see  the  Devil !  art  thou  sure 
of  if,  Thomas? 

Thomas.  Yes,  yes,  I  am  sure  enough  of  it,  master ; 
to  be  sure  it  was  the  Devil. 

Gent.  And  how  do  you  know  it  was  the  Devil, 
Thomas  ?  Had  you  ever  seen  the  Devil  before  ? 

Tho.  No,  no,  I  had  never  seen  him  before,  to  be 
sure ;  but.  for  all  that,  I  know  it  was  the  Devil. 

Gent.  Well,  if  you  are  sure,  Thomas,  there  is  no  con- 
tradicting you  ;  pray  what  clothes  had  he  on  ? 

Tho.  Nay,  sir,  don't  jest  with  me  ;  he  had  no 
clothes  on  ;  he  was  clothed  with  fire  and  brimstone. 

Gent.  Was  it  dark  or  day-light  when  you  saw 
him? 

Tho.  O !  it  was  very  dark,  for  it  was  midnight. 
4* 


42  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Gent.  How  could  you  see  him  then  ?  did  you  see 
by  the  light  of  the  fire  you  speak  of? 

Tho.  No,  no,  he  gave  no  light  himself;  but  I  saw 
him,  for  all  that. 

Gent.  But  was  it  within  doors,  or  out  in  the  street  ? 

Tko.  It  was  within, — it  was  in  my  own  chamber, 
when  I  was  just  going  into  bed.  that  I  saw  him. 

Gent.  Well  then,  you  had  a  candle,  hadn't  you  ? 

Tho.  Yes,  I  had  a  candle ;  but  it  burnt  as  blue  !  and 
as  dim  ! 

Gent.  Well,  but  if  the  Devil  was  clothed  with  fire 
and  brimstone,  he  must  give  you  some  light ;  there 
can't  be  such  a  fire  as  you  speak  of,  but  it  must  give 
a  light  with  it. 

Tho.  No,  no,  he  gave  no  light,  but  I  smelt  his  fire 
and  brimstone  ;  he  left  a  smell  of  it  behind  him,  when 
he  was  gone. 

Gent.  Well,  so  you  say  he  had  fire,  but  gave  no 
light ;  it  was  a  devilish  fire  indeed ;  did  it  feel  warm  ? 
was  the  room  hot  while  he  was  in  it  ? 

Tho.  No,  no,  but  I  was  hot  enough  without  it,  for 
it  put  me  into  a  great  sweat  wkh  the  fright. 

Gent.  Very  well,  he  was  all  in  fire,  you  say,  but 
without  light  or  heat ;  only,  it  seems,  he  stunk  of  brim- 
stone ;  pray  what  shapes  was  he  in?  what  was  he 
like  ?  for  you  say  you  saw  him. 

Tho.  O!  sir,  I  saw  two  great  staring  saucer  eyes, 
enough  to  fright  any  body  out  of  their  wits. 

Gent.  And  was  that  all  you  saw  ? 

Tho.  No,  I  saw  his  cloven-foot  very  plain,  it  was  as 
big  as  one  of  our  bullocks  that  goes  to  plough. 

Gent.  So  you  saw  none  of  his  body,  but  his  eyes 
and  his  feet  ?  a  fine  vision  indeed  ! 

Tho.  Sir,  that  was  enough  to  send  me  going. 

Gent.  Going !  what,  did  you  run  away  from  him  ? 

Tho.  No,  but  I  fled  into  bed  at  one  jump,  and  sunk 
down,  and  pulled  the  bed-clothes  quite  over  me. 

Gent.  And  what  did  you  do  that  for  ? 

Tho.  To  hide  myself  from  such  a  frightful  creature. 

Gent.  Why,  if  it  had  really  been  the  Devil,  do  you 
think  the  bed-clothes  would  have  secured  you  from 
him? 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  43 

Tho.  Nay,  I  don't  know  ;  but  in  a  fright  it  was  all 
I  could  do. 

Gent.  Nay,  it  was  as  wise  as  all  the  rest ;  but  come, 
Thomas,  to  be  a  little  serious,  pray  did  he  speak  to 
you  ? 

Tho.  Yes,  yes,  I  heard  a  voice;  but  who  it  was  the 
Lord  knows.  • 

Gent.  What  kind  of  voice  was  it  ?  was  it  like  a 
man's  voice? 

Tho.  No,  it  was  a  hoarse,  ugly  noise,  like  the 
croaking  of  a  frog  ;  and  it  called  me  by  my  name, 
twice,  "  Thomas  Dawson,  Thomas  Dawson." 

Gent.  Well,  did  yon  answer  ? 

Tho.  No,  not  I,  I  could  not  have  spoke  a  word  for 
my  life ;  why,  I  was  frightened  to  death. 

Gent.  Did  it  say  anything  else? 

Tho.  Yes,  when  it  saw  that  I  did  not  speak,  it  said, 
"  Thomas  Dawson,  Thomas  Dawson,  you  are  a 
wicked  wretch  ;  you  committed  a  great  sin  last  night ; 
if  you  don't  repent,  I  will  take  you  away  alive,  and 
carry  you  to  hell,  and  you  shall  be  punished,  you 
wretch." 

Gent.  And  was  it  true,  Thomas  ?  did  you  commit  a 
crime  the  night  before  ? 

Tho.  Indeed,  master,  why,  yes,  it  was  true  ;  but  I 
was  very  sorry  afterwards. 

Gent.  But  how  should  the  Devil  know  it,  Thomas? 

Tho.  Nay,  he  knows  it  to  be  sure ;  why,  they  say 
he  knows  everything. 

Gent.  Well,  but  why  should  he  be  angry  at  that^ 
he  would  rather  bid  you  do  greater  crimes,  and  en-    »A 
courage  you.     This  can't  be  the  Devil,  Thomas. 

Tho.  Yes,  yes,  sir,  it  was  the  Devil,  to  be  sure. 

Gent.  But  he  bid  you  repent  too,  you  say  ? 

Tho.  Yes,  he  threatened  me  if  I  did  not. 

Gent.  Why,  Thomas,  do  you  think  the  Devil  would 
have  you  repent  ? 

Tho.  Why  no,  that 's  true,  too  ;  I  don't  know  what 
to  say  to  that  ;  but  what  could  it  be  ?  It  was  the 
Devil,  to  be  sure,  it  could  be  nobody  else. 

Gent.  No,  no,  it  was  neither  the  Devil,  Thomas, 
nor  any  body  else,  but  your  own  frightened  imagina- 
tion ;  you  had  committed  a  great  sin,  and  being  a 


44  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

young  sinner  of  that  kind,  your  conscience  terrified 
you,  told  you  the  Devil  would  fetch  you  away,  and 
you  would  be  damned  ;  and  you  were  so  persuaded  it 
would  be  so,  that  you  at  last  imagined  he  was  come 
for  you  indeed ;  that  you  saw  him  and  heard  him ; 
whereas,  you  may  depend  upon  it,  if  you  commit  sin 
every  night,  the  Devil  will  hold  the  candle,  or  do  any- 
thing to  forward  it,  but  will  never  disturb  you ;  he  is 
too  much  a  friend  to  your  wickedness  ;  it  could  never 
be  the  Devil,  Thomas;  it  was  only  your  own  guilt 
frightened  you,  and  that  was  Devil  enough  too  ;  if  you 
knew  the  worst  of  it,  you  need  no  other  enemy. 

Tho.  Why  that 's  true,  master  ;  one  would  think  the 
Devil  should  not  bid  me  repent,  that 's  true  ;  but  cer- 
tainly it  was  the  Devil  for  all  that. 

Now  Thomas  was  not  the  only  man  that,  having 
committed  a  flagitious  crime,  had  been  deluded  by  his 
own  imagination,  and  the  power  of  fancy,  to  think  the 
Devil  was  come  for  him ;  whereas  the  Devil,  to  give 
him  his  due,  is  too  honest  to  pretend  to  such  things ; 
it  is  his  business  to  persuade  men  to  offend,  not  to 
repent ;  and  he  professes  no  other  :  he  may  press  men 
to  this  or  that  action,  by  telling  them  it  is  no  sin,  no 
offence,  no  breach  of  God's  law,  and  the  like,  when 
really  it  is  both  ;  but  to  press  them  to  repent,  when 
they  have  offended,  that  is  quite  out  of  his  way ;  it  is 
none  of  his  business,  nor  does  he  pretend  to  it:  there- 
fore, let  no  man  charge  the  Devil  with  what  he  is  not 
concerned  in. 

But  to  return  to  his  person ;  he  is,  as  I  have  said, 
notwithstanding  his  lost  glory,  a  mighty,  a  terrible, 
and  an  immortal  spirit ;  he  is  himself  called  a  prince, 
— the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air;  the  prince  of 
darkness,  the  prince  of  devils,  and  the  like ;  and  his 
attending  spirits  are  called  his  angels  :  so  that,  how- 
ever Satan  has  lost  the  glory  and  rectitude  of  his 
nature,  by  his  apostate  state,  yet  he  retains  a  greatness 
arid  magnificence,  which  places  him  above  our  rank, 
and  indeed  above  our  conception ;  for  we  know  not 
what  he  is,  any  more  than  we  know  what  the  blessed 
angels  are ;  of  whom  we  can  say  no  more  than  that 
they  are  ministering  spirits,  &c.,  as  the  scripture  has 
described  them. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  45 

Two  things,  however,  may  give  us  some  insight 
into  the  nature  of  the  Devil,  in  the  present  state  he  is 
in ;  and  these  we  have  a  clear  discovery  of  in  the 
whole  series  of  his  conduct  from  the  beginning. 

1.  That   he   is    the    vanquished,    but    implacable, 
enemy  of  God  his  Creator,  who  has  conquered  him, 
and  expelled  him  from  the  habitations  of  bliss;  on 
which  account  he  is  filled  with  envy,  rage,  malice, 
and  all  uncharitableness ;   would  dethrone  God,  and 
overturn   the   thrones  of  heaven,   if  it  were   in   his 
power. 

2.  That  he  is  man's  irreconcilable  enemy ;  not  as  he 
is  a  man,  nor  on  his  own  account  simply,  nor  for  any 
advantage  he  (the  Devil)  can  make  by  the  ruin  and 
destruction  of  man ;  but  in  mere  envy  at  the  felicity 
he  is  supposed  to  enjoy  as  Satan's  rival ;  and  as  he  is 
appointed  to  succeed  Satan,   and   his  angels,  in  the 
possession  of  those  glories  from  which  they  are  fallen. 

And  here  I  must  take  upon  me  to  say,  Mr.  Milton 
makes  a  wrong  judgment  of  the  reason  of  Satan's 
resolution  to  disturb  the  felicity  of  man.  He  tells  us  it 
was  merely  to  affront  God,  his  Maker,  rob  him  of  the 
glory  designed  in  his  new  work  of  creation,  and  to 
disappoint  him  in  his  main  design,  namely,  the  cre- 
ating a  new  species  of  creatures  in  a  perfect  rectitude 
of  soul,  and  after  his  own  image,  from  whom  he  might 
expect  a  new  fund  of  glory  should  be  raised,  and  who 
was  to  appear  as  the  triumph  of  the  Messiah's  victory 
over  the  Devil.  In  all  which  Satan  could  not  be  fool 
enough  not  to  know  that  he  should  be  disappointed  by 
the  same  power  which  had  so  eminently  counteracted 
his  rage  before. 

But,  I  believe,  the  Devil  went  upon  a  much  more 
probable  design ;  and  though  he  may  be  said  to  act 
upon  a  meaner  principle  than  that  of  pointing  his  rage 
at  the  personal  glory  of  his  Creator,  yet  I  own,  that  in 
my  opinion,  it  was  by  much  the  more  rational  under- 
taking, and  more  likely  to  succeed  ;  and  that  was,  that 
whereas  he  perceived  this  new  species  of  creatures 
had  a  sublime  as  well  as  a  human  part,  and  were  made 
capable  of  possessing  the  mansions  of  eternal  beatitude, 
from  whence  he  (Satan)  and  his  angels  were  expelled, 
and  irretrievably  banished  ;  envy  at  such  a  rival 


46  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

moved  him  by  all  possible  artifice,  for  he  saw  him 
deprived  of  capacity  to  do  it  by  force,  to  render  him 
unworthy  like  himself;  that,  bringing  him  to  fall  into 
rebellion  and  disobedience,  he  might  see  his  rival 
damned  with  him ;  and  those  who  were  intended  to 
fill  up  the  empty  spaces  in  heaven,  made  so  by  the 
absence  of  so  many  millions  of  fallen  angels,  be  cast 
out  into  the  same  darkness  with  them. 

How  he  came  to  know,  that  this  new  species  of 
creatures  were  liable  to  such  imperfection,  is  best  ex- 
plained by  the  Devil's  prying,  vigilant  disposition, 
judging  or  leading  him  to  judge  by  himself,  (for  he 
was  as  near  being  infallible  as  any  of  God's  creatures 
had  been ;)  and  then  inclining  him  to  try  whether  it 
was  so  or  no. 

Modern  naturalists,  especially  some  who  have  not 
so  large  a  charity  for  the  fair  sex  as  I  have,  tell  us, 
that  as  soon  as  ever  Satan  saw  the  woman,  and  looked 
in  her  face,  he  saw  evidently,  that  she  was  the  best 
formed  creature  to  make  a  tool  of,  and  the  best  to 
make  an  hypocrite  of,  that  could  be  made,  and  there- 
fore the  most  fitted  for  his  purpose. 

1.  He  saw  by  some  thwart  lines  in  her  face,  (legible, 
perhaps,   to  himself  only,)  that  there  was  a   throne 
ready  prepared  for  the  sin  of  pride  to  sit  in  state  upon, 
especially  if  it  took  an  early  possession.     Eve,  you 
may  suppose,  was  a  perfect  beauty,  if  ever  such  a 
thing   may  be  supposed  in  the   human  frame  ;    her 
figure  being  so  extraordinary,  was  the  ground- work 
of  his  project ;  there  needed  no  more  than  to  bring  her 
to  be  vain  of  it,  and  to  conceit  that  it  either  was  so,  or 
was   infinitely  more  sublime   and   beautiful    than    it 
really  was ;   and  having  thus  tickled  her  vanity,  to 
produce  pride  gradually,  till  at  last  he  might  persuade 
her,  that  she  was  really  angelic,  or  of  heavenly  race, 
and  wanted  nothing  but  to  eat  the  forbidden  fruit,  and 
that  would  make  her  something  more  excellent  still. 

2.  Looking  farther  into  her  frame,  and  with  a  nearer 
view  to  her  imperfections,  he  saw  room  to  conclude, 
that  she  was  of  a  constitution  easy  to  be  seduced,  and 
especially  by  flattering  her;  raising  a  commotion  in 
her  soul,  and  a  disturbance  among  her  passions;  and 
accordingly  he  set  himself  to  work,   to   disturb  hei 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  47 

repose,  and  put  dreams  of  great  things  into  her  head ; 
together  with  something  of  a  nameless  kind,  which 
(however  some  have  been  ill-natured  enough  to  sug- 
gest) I  shall  not  injure  the  Devil  so  much  as  to  men- 
tion, without  better  evidence. 

3.  But,  besides  this,  he  found,  upon  the  very  first 
survey  of  her  outside,  something  so  very  charming  in 
her  mien  and  behavior,  so  engaging  as  well  as  agree- 
able in  the  whole  texture  of  her  person,  and  withal 
such  a  sprightly  wit,  such  a  vivacity  of  parts,  such  a 
fluency  of  tongue,  and,  above  all,  such  a  winning, 
prevailing  whine  in  her  smiles,  or  at  least  in  her  tears, 
that  he  made  no  doubt  if  he  could  but  once  delude 
her,  she  would  easily  be  brought  to  delude  Adam,  who 
he  found  set  not  only  a  great  value  upon  her  person, 
hut  was  perfectly  captivated  by  her  charms  ;  in  a 
word,  he  saw  plainly,  that  if  he  could  but  ruin  her,  he 
should  easily  make  a  devil  of  her  to  ruin  her  husband, 
and  draw  him  into  any  gulf  of  mischief,  were  it  ever 
so  black  and  dreadful,  that  she  should  first  fall  into 
herself.  How  far  some  may  be  wicked  enough,  from 
hence,  to  suggest  of  the  fair  sex,  that  they  have  been 
devils  to  their  husbands  ever  since,  I  cannot  say ;  I 
hope  they  will  not  be  so  unmerciful  to  discover  truths 
of  such  fatal  consequence,  though  they  should  come 
to  their  knowledge. 

Thus  subtle  and  penetrating  has  Satan  been  from 
the  beginning;  and  who  can  wonder,  that  upon  these 
discoveries  made  into  the  woman's  inside,  he  went 
immediately  to  work  with  her,  rather  than  with 
Adam?  Not  but  that  one  would  think,  if  Adam  was 
fool  enough  to  be  deluded  by  his  wife,  the  Devil 
might  have  seen  so  much  of  it  in  his  countenance,  as 
to  have  encouraged  him  to  make  his  attack  directly 
upon  him,  arid  not  go  round  about,  beating  the  bush, 
arid  plowing  with  the  heifer  ?  setting  upon  the  woman 
first,  and  then  setting  her  upon  her  husband,  who 
might  as  easily  have  been  imposed  upon  as  she  7 

Other  commentators  upon  this  critical  text  suggest 
to  us,  that  Eve  was  riot  so  pleased  with  the  hopes  of 
being  made  a  goddess,  that  the  pride  of  a  seraphic 
knowledge  did  not  so  much  work  upon  her  imagination 
to  bring  her  to  consent,  as  a  certain  secret  notion 


48  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

infused  into  her  head  by  the  same  wicked  instrument, 
that,  she  should  be  wiser  than  Adam,  and  should,  by 
the  superiority  of  her  understanding,  necessarily  have 
the  government  over  him  ;  which,  at  present,  she  was 
sensible  she  had  not,  he  being  master  of  a  particular 
air  of  gravity  and  majesty,  as  well  as  of  strength, 
infinitely  superior  to  her. 

This  is  an  ill-natured  suggestion  ;  but  it  must  be 
confessed  the  impatient  desire  of  government,  which 
(since  that)  appears  in  the  general  behavior  of  the  sex, 
and  particularly  of  governing  husbands,  leaves  too 
much  room  to  legitimate  the  supposition. 

The  expositors,  who  are  of  this  opinion,  add  to  it,  that 
this  being  her  original  crime,  or  the  particular  tempta- 
tion to  that  crime  ;  Heaven  thought  fit  to  show  his  jus- 
tice, in  making  her  more  entire  subjection  to  her  hus- 
band be  a  part  of  the  curse,  that  she  might  read  her 
sin  in  the  punishment ;  namely,  He  shall  rule  over  thee. 

I  only  give  the  general  hint  of  these  things,  as  they 
appear  recorded  in  the  annals  of  Satan's  first  tyranny, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  his  government  in  the  world  ; 
those  that  would  be  more  particularly  informed,  may 
inquire  of  him,  and  know  farther. 

I  cannot,  however,  but  observe  here,  with  some  re- 
gret, how  it  appears  by  the  consequence,  that  the  Devil 
was  not  mistaken  when  he  made  an  early  judgment  of 
Mrs.  Eve;  and  how  Satan  really  went  the  right  way  to 
work,  to  judge  of  her  :  it  is  certain  the  Devil  had  noth- 
ing to  do  but  to  look  in  her  face,  and  upon  a  near 
steady  view,  he  might  easily  see  there  an  instrument 
for  his  turn ;  nor  has  he  failed  to  make  her  a  tool  ever 
since,  by  the  very  methods  which  he  at  first  proposed  ; 
to  which,  perhaps,  he  has  made  some  additions  in  the 
corrupting  her  composition,  as  well  as  her  understand- 
ing; qualifying  her  to  be  a  complete  snare  to  the  poor 
weaker  vessel,  man;  to  wheedle  him  with  her  siren's 
voice,  abuse  him  with  her  smiles,  delude  him  with  her 
crocodile  tears,  and  sometimes  cock  her  crown  at  him, 
and  terrify  him  with  the  thunder  of  her  treble ;  making 
the  effeminated  male  apple-eater  tremble  at  the  noise 
of  that  very  tongue  which  at  first  commanded  him  to 
sin.  For  it  is  yet  a  debate  which  the  learned  have 
not  decided,  whether  she  persuaded  and  intreated  him, 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  49 

or.  like  a  true  she-tyrant,  exercised  her  authority,  and 
obliged  him  to  eat  the  forbidden  fruit. 

And  therefore  a  certain  author,  whose  name,  for  fear 
of  the  sex's  resentment,  I  conceal,  brings  her  in,  call- 
ing to  Adam  at  a  great  distance,  in  an  imperious, 
haughty  manner,  beckoning  to  him  with  her  hand, 
thus  :  "  Here,"  says  she,  "  you  cowardly,  faint-hearted 
wretch,  take  this  branch  of  heavenly  fruit;  eat,  and  be 
a  stupid  fool  no  longer;  eat,  and  be  wise;  eat,  and  be  a 
god ;  and  know  to  your  eternal  shame,  that  your  wife 
has  been  made  an  enlightened  goddess  before  you." 

He  tells  you  Adam  hung  back  a  little  at  first,  and 
trembled,  afraid  to  trespass:  "What  ails  the  sot?" 
says  the  new  termagant;  "what  are  you  afraid  of? 
did  God  forbid  you  ?  yes,  and  why  ?  that  we  might  not 
be  knowing  and  wise  like  himself !  What  reason  can 
there  be,  that  we.  who  have  capacious  souls,  able  to 
receive  knowledge,  should  have  it  withheld  ?  Take  it, 
you  fool,  and  eat;  don't  you  see  how  I  am  exalted  in 
soul  by  it,  and  am  quite  another  creature  ?  take  it,  I 
say  ;  or,  if  you  don't,  I'll  go  and  cut  down  the  tree,  and 
you  shall  never  eat  any  of  it  at' all,  and  you  shall  be 
still  a  fool,  and  be  governed  by  your  wife  for  ever." 

Thus,  if  this  interpretation  of  the  thing  be  just,  she 
scolded  him  into  it ;  rated  him,  and  brought  him  to  it 
by  the  terror  of  her  voice ;  a  thing  that  has  retained 
a  dreadful  influence  over  him  ever  since ;  nor  have  the 
greatest  of  Adam's  successors,  how  light  soever  some 
husbands  make  of  it  in  this  age,  been  ever  able,  since 
that,  to  conceal  their  terror  at  the  very  sound ;  nay,  if 
we  may  believe  history,  it  prevailed  even  among  the 
gods  ;  not  all  the  noise  of  Vulcan's  hammers  could 
silence  the  clamors  of  that  outrageous  goddess ;  nay, 
even  Jupiter  himself  led  such  a  life  with  a  termagant 
wife,  that  once,  they  say.  Juno  out-scolded  the  noise 
of  all  his  thunders,  and  was  within  an  ace  of  brawling 
him  out  of  heaven.  But  to  return  to  the  Devil. 

With  these  views  he  resolved,  it  seems,  to  attack  the 
woman ;  and  if  you  consider  him  as  a  devil,  and  what 
he  aimed  at,  and  consider  the  fair  prospect  he  had  of 
success,  I  must  confess,  I  do  not  see  who  can  blame  him, 
or,  at  least,  how  anything  less  could  be  expected  from 
him  :  but  we  shall  meet  with  it  again  by-and-by. 
5 


50  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


CHAPTER     V. 

Of  the  station  Satan  had  in  heaven  before  he  fell ;  the 
nature  and  original  of  his  crime  ;  and  some  of  Mr. 
Milton's  mistakes  about  it. 

THUS  far  I  have  gone  upon  general  observation,  in 
this  great  affair  of  Satan,  and  his  empire  in  the  world ; 
I  now  come  to  my  title,  and  shall  enter  upon  the  his- 
torical part,  as  the  main  work  before  me. 

Besides  what  has  been  said  poetically,  relating  to 
the  fall  and  wandering  condition  of  the  Devil  and  his 
host,  which  poetical  part  I  offer  only  as  an  excursion, 
and  desire  it  should  be  taken  so;  I  shall  give  you 
what  I  think  is  deduced  from  good  originals  on  the 
part  of  Satan's  story,  in  a  few  words. 

He  was  one  of  the  created  angels,  formed  by  the 
same  omnipotent  hand,  and  glorious  power,  who  cre- 
ated the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  all  that  is  therein  : 
this  innumerable  heavenly  host,  as  we  have  reason  to 
believe,  contained  angels  of  higher  and  lower  stations, 
of  greater  and  of  lesser  degree,  expressed  in  the  scrip- 
ture by  thrones,  dominions  and  principalities :  this,  I 
think,  we  have  as  much  reason  to  believe,  as  we  have, 
that  there  are  stars  in  the  firmament  (or  starry  heav- 
ens) of  greater  and  of  lesser  magnitude. 

What  particular  station  among  the  immortal  choir 
of  angels,  this  arch-seraph,  this  prince  of  devils,  called 
Satan,  was  placed  in  before  his  expulsion,  that,  indeed, 
we  cannot  come  at  the  knowledge  of;  at  least,  not 
with  such  an  authority  as  may  be  depended  upon ; 
but  as,  from  scripture  authority,  he  is  placed  at  the 
head  of  all  the  apostate  armies,  after  he  was  fallen,  we 
cannot  think  it  in  the  least  assuming  to  say,  that  he 
might  be  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  principal  agents  in 
the  rebellion  which  happened  in  heaven ;  and  conse- 
quently that  he  might  be  one  of  the  highest  in  dignity 
there,  before  that  rebellion. 

The  higher  his  station,  the  lower,  and  with  the 
greater  precipitation,  was  his  overthrow ;  and  therefore 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  51 

those  words,  though  taken  in  another  sense,  may  very 
well  be  applied  to  him  :  How  art  thou  fallen,  O  Luci- 
fer, son  of  the  morning  ! 

Having  granted  the  dignity  of  his  person,  and  the 
high  station  in  which  he  was  placed  among  the  heav- 
enly host,  it  would  come  then  necessarily  to  inquire 
into  the  nature  of  his  fall,  and,  above  all,  a  little  into 
the  reason  of  it :  certain  it  is,  he  did  fall,  was  guilty  of 
rebellion  and  disobedience,  the  just  effect  of  pride;  sins, 
which,  in  that  holy  place,  might  well  be  called  won- 
derful. 

But  what  to  me  is  more  wonderful,  and  which,  I 
think,  will  be  very  ill-accounted  for,  is,  how  carne 
seeds  of  crime  to  rise  in  the  angelic  nature,  created  in 
a  state  of  perfect,  unspotted  holiness?  How  was  it  first 
found  in  a  place  where  no  unclean  thing  can  enter  ? 
How  came  ambition,  pride,  or  envy,  to  generate  there? 
Could  there  be  offence  where  there  was  no  crime  ? 
Could  untainted  purity  breed  corruption?  Could  that 
nature  contaminate  and  infect,  which  was  always 
drinking  in  principles  of  perfection  ? 

Happy  it  is  to  me,  that  writing  the  history,  not  solv- 
ing the  difficulties,  of  Satan's  affairs,  is  my  province 
in  this  work ;  that  I  am  to  relate  the  fact,  not  give 
reasons  for  it,  or  assign  causes ;  if  it  was  otherwise,  I 
should  break  off  at  this  difficulty,  for  I  acknowledge  I 
do  not  see  through  it :  neither  do  I  think  that  the  great 
Milton,  after  all  his  fine  images,  and  lofty  excursions, 
upon  the  subject,  has  left  it  one  jot  clearer  than  he 
found  it.  Some  are  of  opinion,  and  among  them  the 

great  Dr.  B s,  that  crime  broke  in  upon  them  at 

some  interval,  when  they  omitted  but  one  moment  fix- 
ing their  eyes  and  thoughts  on  the  glories  of  the  divine 
face,  to  admire  and  adore  which  is  the  full  employ- 
ment of  angels  :  but  even  this,  though  it  goes  as  high 
as  imagination  can  carry  us,  does  not  reach  it,  nor,  to 
me,  make  it  one  jot  more  comprehensible  than  it  was 
before.  All  I  can  say  to  it  here,  is,  that  so  it  was;  the 
fact  was  upon  record;  and  the  rejected  troop  are  in 
being,  whose  circumstances  confess  the  guilt,  and  still 
groan  under  the  punishment. 

If  you  will  bear  with  a  poetic  excursion  upon  the 


52  THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

subject,  not  to  solve,  but  to  illustrate,  the  difficulty; 
taKe  it  in  a  few  lines,  thus  : 

Thou  sin  of  witchcraft !  first-born  child  of  crime  ! 

Produced  before  the  bloom  of  time  ; 
Ambition's  maiden  sin,  in  heaven  conceived  ! 

And  who  could  have  believed 
Defilement  could  in  purity  begin, 
And  bright  eternal  day  be  soiled  with  sin  ? 

Tell  us,  sly  penetrating  crime, 

How  cam'st  thou  here,  thou  fault  sublime  ? 
How  didst  thou  pass  the  adamantine  gate  ; 
And  into  spirit  thyself  insinuate  ? 

From  what  dark  state  ?  from  what  deep  place  ? 

From  what  strange,  uncreated  race  ? 
Where  was  thy  ancient  habitation  found, 
Before  void  chaos  heard  the  forming  sound  ? 
Wast  thou  a  substance,  or  an  airy  ghost, 
A  vapor  flying  in  the  fluid  waste 

Of  unconcocted  air  ? 

And  how  at  first  didst  thou  come  there  ? 
Sure  there  was  once  a  time  when  thou  wert  not : 
By  whom  wast  thou  created  ?  and  for  what  ? 
Art  thou  a  steam  from  some  contagious  damp  exhaled  ? 

How  should  contagion  be  entailed 
On  bright  seraphic  spirits,  and  in  a  place, 
Where  all 's  supreme,  and  glory  fills  the  space  ? 

No  noxious  vapor  there  could  rise  ; 

For  there  no  noxious  matter  lies  : 

Nothing  that 's  evil  could  appear ; 
Sin  never  could  seraphic  glory  bear  ; 

The  brightness  of  the  eternal  face, 
Which  fills  as  well  as  constitutes  the  place, 
Would  be  a  fire  too  hot  for  crime  to  bear, 
'T  would  calcine  sin,  or  melt  it  into  air. 
How  then  did  first  defilement  enter  in  ? 
Ambition,  thou  first  vital  seed  of  sin  ! 
Thou  life  of  death,  how  cam'st  thou  there  ? 

In  what  bright  form  didst  thou  appear  ? 
In  what  seraphic  orb  didst  thou  arise  ? 
Surely  that  place  admits  of  no  disguise  : 

Eternal  sight  must  know  thee  there, 
And,  being  known,  thou  soon  must  disappear. 

But  since  the  fatal  truth  we  know, 
Without  the  matter  whence,  or  manner  how  : 

Thou  highest  superlative  of  sin, 
Tell  us  thy  nature,  where  thou  didst  begin  ? 

The  first  degree  of  thy  increase 
Debauched  the  regions  of  eternal  peace  • 
And  filled  the  breasts  of  loyal  angels  there 
With  the  first  treason,  and  infernal  war. 

Thou  art  the  high  extreme  of  pride, 
And  dost  o'er  lesser  crimes  preside  j 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  53 

Not  for  the  mean  attempt  of  vice  designed, 
But  to  embroil  the  world,  and  damn  mankind. 
Transforming  mischief!  how  hast  thou  procured, 

That  loss  that 's  ne'er  to  be  restored, 
And  made  the  bright  seraphic  morning  star 

In  horrid  monstrous  shapes  appear  ? 
Satan,  that,  while  he  dwelt  in  glorious  light, 
Was  always  then  as  pure  as  he  was  bright, 
That  in  effulgent  rays  of  glory  shone, 
Excelled  by  eternal  Light,  by  him  alone, 
Distorted  now,  and  stript  of  innocence, 
And  banished  with  thee  from  the  high  preeminence. 
How  has  the  splendid  seraph  changed  his  face, 
Transformed  by  thee,  and  like  thy  monstrous  race  ! 
Ugly  as  is  the  crime  for  which  he  fell ; 
Fitted  by  thee  to  make  a  local  hell ; 
For  such  must  be  the  place  where  either  of  you  dwell. 

Thus,  as  I  told  yon,  I  only  moralize  upon  the  sub- 
ject ;  but,  as  to  the  difficulty.  I  must  leave  it  as  I  find 
it,  unless,  as  I  hinted  at  first,  I  could  prevail  with 
Satan  to  set  peri  to  paper,  and  write  this  part  of  his 
own  history :  no  question,  but  he  could  let  us  into  the 
secret;  but,  to  be  plain,  I  doubt  I  shall  tell  so  many 
plain  truths  of  the  Devil  in  this  history,  and  discover 
so  many  of  his  secrets,  which  it  is  not  for  his  interest 
to  have  discovered,  that  before  I  have  done,  the  Devil 
and  I  may  not  be  so  good  friends  as  you  may  suppose 
we  are ;  at  least,  not  friends  enough  to  obtain  such  a 
favor  of  him,  though  it  be  for  public  good  ;  so  we  must 
be  content  till  we  come  on  the  other  side  of  the  blue- 
blanket,  and  then  we  shall  know  the  whole  story. 

But  now,  though,  as  I  said,  I  will  not  attempt  to 
solve  the  difficulty,  I  may,  I  hope,  venture  to  tell  you, 
that  there  is  not  so  much  difficulty  in  it,  as  at  first 
sight  appears  ;  and  especially  not  so  much  as  some 
people  would  make  us  believe  :  let  us  see  how  others 
are  mistaken  in  it ;  perhaps  that  may  help  us  a  little 
in  the  inquiry;  for  to  know  what  it  is  not.  is  one  help 
towards  knowing  what  it  is. 

Mr.  Milton  has  indeed  told  us  a  great  many  merry 
things  of  the  Devil,  in  a  most  formal,  solemn  manner; 
till,  in  short,  he  has  made  a  good  play  of  heaven  and 
hell ;  and,  no  doubt,  if  he  had  lived  in  our  times,  he 
might  have  had  it  acted  with  our  Pluto  and  Proser- 
pine. He  has  made  fine  speeches  both  for  God  and 
8* 


54  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

the  Devil ;  and  a  little  addition  might  have  turned  it, 
d  la  moderne,  into  an  Harlequin  Dieu  et  Diable. 

I  confess  I  do  not  well  know  how  far  the  dominion 
of  poetry  extends  itself;  it  seems  the  buts  and  bounds 
of  Parnassus  are  not  yet  ascertained  ;  so  that,  for 
aught  I  know,  by  virtue  of  their  ancient  privilege, 
called  licentia  poetarum,  there  can  be  no  blasphemy  in 
verse ;  as  some  of  our  divines  say,  there  can  be  no 
treason  in  the  pulpit.  But  they  that  will  venture  to 
write  that  way,  ought  to  be  better  satisfied  about  that 
point  than  I  am. 

Upon  this  foot,  Mr.  Milton,  to  grace  his  poem,  and 
give  room  for  his  towering  fancy,  has  gone  a  length 
beyond  all  that  ever  went  before  him,  since  Ovid  in  his 
Metamorphosis.  He  has  indeed  complimented  God 
Almighty  with  a  flux  of  lofty  words,  and  great  sounds ; 
and  has  made  a  very  fine  story  of  the  Devil ;  but  he 
has  made  a  mere  je  ne  scai  quoi  of  Jesus  Christ.  In 
one  line  he  has  him  riding  on  a  cherub,  and  in  another 
sitting  on  a  throne,  both  in  the  very  same  moment  of 
action.  In  another  place,  he  has  brought  him  in  mak- 
ing a  speech  to  his  saints,  when  it  is  evident  he  had 
none  there  ;  for  we  all  know  man  was  not  created  till 
a  long  while  after ;  and  nobody  can  be  so  dull  as  to 
say  the  angels  may  be  called  saints,  without  the  great- 
est absurdity  in  nature.  Besides,  he  makes  Christ 
himself  distinguish  them,  as  in  two  several  bands,  and 
of  differing  persons  and  species,  as  to  be  sure  they  are. 

"  Stand  still  in  bright  array,  ye  saints, — 

Here  stand. 

Ye  angels." 

Par.  Lost.  lib.  vi.  fol.  174. 

So  that  Christ  here  is  brought  in  drawing  up  his 
army  before  the  last  battle,  and  making  a  speech  to 
them,  to  tell  them  they  shall  only  stand  by  in  warlike 
order;  but  that  they  shall  have  no  occasion  to  fight, 
for  he  alone  will  engage  the  rebels.  Then,  in  embat- 
tling his  legions,  he  places  the  saints  here,  and  the 
angels  there ;  as  if  one  were  the  main  battle  of  infantry, 
and  the  other  the  wings  of  cavalry.  But  who  are  those 
saints?  They  are  indeed  all  of  Milton's  own  making; 
it  is  certain  there  were  no  saints  at  all  in  heaven  or 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  55 

earth  at  that  time ;  God  and  his  angels  filled  up  the 
place ;  and  till  some  of  the  angels  fell,  and  men  were 
created,  had  lived,  and  were  dead,  therg  could  have 
been  no  saints  there.  Saint  Abel  was  certainly  the 
proto-saint  of  all  that  ever  were  seen  in  heaven,  as 
well  as  the  proto-martyr  of  all  that  have  been  upon 
earth. 

Just  such  another  mistake,  riot  to  call  it  a  blunder, 
he  makes  about  hell ;  which  he  not  only  makes  local, 
but  gives  it  a  being  before  the  fall  of  the  angels ;  and 
brings  it  in  opening  its  mouth  to  receive  them.  This 
is  so  contrary  to  the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  so  great 
an  absurdity,  that  no  poetic  license  can  account  for  it; 
for  though  poesy  may  form  stories,  as  idea  and  fancy 
may  furnish  materials ;  yet  poesy  must  not  break  in 
upon  chronology,  and  make  things  which  in  time  were 
to  exist,  act  before  they  existed. 

Thus  a  painter  may  make  a  fine  piece  of  work,  the 
fancy  may  be  good,  the  strokes  masterly,  and  the 
beauty  of  the  workmanship  inimitably  curious  and 
fine ;  and  yet  have  some  unpardonable  improprieties, 
which  mar  the  whole  work.  So  the  famous  painter 
of  Toledo  painted  the  story  of  the  three  wise  men  of 
the  east  coming  to  worship,  and  bring  their  presents 
to,  our  Lord  upon  his  birth  at  Bethlehem ;  where  he 
represents  them  as  three  Arabian  or  Indian  kings  ;  two 
of  them  are  white,  and  one  black  :  but  unhappily, 
when  he  drew  the  latter  part  of  them  kneeling,  which 
to  be  sure  were  done  after  their  faces;  their  legs  being 
necessarily  a  little  intermixed  ;  he  made  three  black 
feet  for  the  negro  king,  and  but  three  white  feet  for  the 
two  white  kings ;  and  yet  never  discovered  the  mis- 
take till  the  piece  was  presented  to  the  king,  and  hung 
up  in  the  great  church.  As  this  is  an  unpardonable 
error  in  sculpture  or  limning,  it  must  be  much  more  so 
in  poetry,  where  the  images  must  have  no  improprie- 
ties, much  less  inconsistencies. 

In  a  word,  Mr.  Milton  has  indeed  made  a  fine  poem; 
but  it  is  the  Devil  of  an  history.  I  can  easily  allow 
Mr.  Milton  to  make  hills  and  dales,  flowery  meadows 
and  plains,  (and  the  like,)  in  heaven ;  and  places  of 
retreat  and  contemplation  in  hell ;  though  I  must  add, 
that  it  can  be  allowed  to  no  poet  on  earth  but  Mr. 


56  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

Milton.  Nay,  I  will  allow  Mr.  Milton,  if  you  please, 
to  set  the  angels  a  dancing  in  heaven,  (lib.  v.  fol.  138.) 
and  the  devils  a  singing  in  hell,  (lib.  i.  fol.  44,)  though 
they  are,  in  short,  especially  the  last,  most  horrid 
absurdities.  But  I  cannot  allow  him  to  make  their 
music  in  hell  to  be  harmonious  and  charming,  as  he 
does  ;  such  images  being  incongruous,  and,  indeed, 
shocking  to  nature.  Neither  can  I  think  we  should 
allow  things  to  be  placed  out  of  time  in  poetry,  any 
more  than  in  history ;  it  is  a  confusion  of  images, 
which  is  agreed  to  be  disallowed  by  all  the  critics,  of 
what  tribe  or  species  soever,  in  the  world ;  and.  is 
indeed  unpardonable.  But  we  shall  find  so  many 
more  of  these  things  in  Mr.  Milton,  that  really  taking 
notice  of  them  all,  would  carry  me  quite  out  of  my 
Avay,  I  being  at  this  time  not  writing  the  history  of 
Mr.  Milton,  but  of  the  Devil  :  besides,  Mr.  Milton  is 
such  a  celebrated  man,  that  who  but  he  that  can  write 
the  history  of  the  Devil  dare  meddle  with  him  ? 

But  to  come  back  to  the  business.  As  I  had  cau- 
tioned you  against  running  to  scripture  for  shelter  in 
cases  of  difficulty,  scripture  weighing  very  little  among 
the  people  I  am  directing  my  speech  to ;  so  indeed 
scripture  gives  but  very  little  light  into  anything  of 
the  Devil's  story  before  his  fall,  and  but  to  very  little 
of  it  for  some  time  after. 

Nor  has  Mr.  Milton  said  one  word  to  solve  the  main 
difficulty;  namely,  How  the  Devil  came  to  fall,  and 
how  sin  came  into  heaven  ?  How  the  spotless  seraphic 
nature  could  receive  infection  ?  Whence  the  contagion 
proceeded  ?  What  noxious  matter  could  emit  corrup- 
tion there  ?  How  and  whence  any  vapor  to  poison  the 
angelic  frame  could  rise  up,  or  how  it  increased  and 
grew  up  to  crime?  But  all  this  he  passes  over,  and, 
hurrying  up  that  part  in  two  or  three  words,  only 
tells  us, 

His  pride 


Had  cast  him  out  of  heaven,  with  all  his  host 

Of  rebel  angels,  by  whose  aid  aspiring, 

He  trusted  to  have  equalled  the  Most  High." 

Lib.  i.  fol.  3. 

His  pride  !  but  how  came  Satan,  while  an  archangel, 
to  be  proud  ?  How  did  it  consist,  that  pride  and  perfect 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  57 

holiness  should  meet  in  the  same  person  ?  Here  we 
must  bid  Mr.  Milton  good  night ;  for,  in  plain  terms, 
he  is  in  the  dark  about  it,  and  so  we  are  all ;  and  the 
most  than  can  be  said,  is,  that  we  know  the  fact  is  so, 
but  nothing  of  the  nature  or  reason  of  it. 

But  to  come  to  the  history.  The  angels  fell,  they 
sinned  (wonderful !)  in  heaven,  and  God  cast  them 
out :  what  their  sin  was,  is  not  explicit ;  but  in  gen- 
eral it  is  called  a  rebellion  against  God ;  all  sin  must 
be  so. 

Mr.  Milton  here  takes  upon  him  to  give  the  history 
of  it,  as  particularly  as  'if  he  had  been  born  there,  and 
came  down  hither  on  purpose  to  give  us  an  account 
of  it ;  (I  hope  he  is  better  informed  by  this  time;)  but 
this  he  does  in  such  a  manner,  as  jostles  with  religion, 
and  shocks  our  faith  in  so  many  points,  necessary  to 
be  believed,  that  we  must  forbear  to  give  up  to  Mr. 
Milton,  or  must  set  aside  part  of  the  sacred  text,  in 
such  a  manner  as  will  assist  some  people  to  set  it  all 
aside. 

I  mean  by  this,  his  invented  scheme  of  the  Son's 
being  declared  in  heaven  to  be  begotten  then,  and  then 
to  be  declared  generalissimo  of  all  the  armies  of 
heaven  ;  and  of  the  Father's  summoning  all  the  angels 
of  the  heavenly  host  to  submit  to  him,  and  pay  him 
homage.  The  words  are  quoted  already  in  a  former 
page. 

I  must  own  the  invention,  indeed,  is  very  fine  ;  the 
images  exceeding  magnificent,  the  thought  rich  and 
bright,  and,  in  some  respect,  truly  sublime :  but  the 
authorities  fail  most  wretchedly,  and  the  mis-timing 
of  it  is  unsufferably  gross,  as  is  noted  in  the  introduc- 
tion to  this  work;  for  Christ  is  not  declared  the  Son 
of  God  but  on  earth :  it  is  true,  it  is  spoken  from 
heaven,  but  then  it  is  spoken  as  perfected  on  earth  ;  if 
it  was  at  all  to  be  assigned  to  heaven,  it  was  from 
eternity;  and  there,  indeed,  his  eternal  generation  is 
allowed;  but  to  take  upon  us  to  say,  that  on  a  day,  a 
certain  day,  for  so  our  poet  assumes,  (lib.  v.  fol.  138.) 

"  When  on  a  day, 

-On  such  a  day, 


As  heaven's  great  year  brings  forth,  the  empyreal  host 
Of  angels,  by  imperial  summons  called, 
Forthwith  from  all  the  ends  of  heaven  appeared." 


58  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   DEVIL. 

This  is,  indeed,  too  gross  ;  at  this  meeting  he  makes 
God  declare  the  Son  to  be  that  day  begotten,  as  before. 
Had  he  made  him  not  begotten  that  day,  but  declared 
general  that  day,  it  would  be  reconcilable  with  scrip- 
ture, and  with  sense ;  for  either  the  begetting  is  meant 
of  ordaining  to  an  office,  or  else  the  eternal  generation 
falls  to  the  ground  ;  and  if  it  was  to  the  office,  (medi- 
ator,) then  Mr.  Milton  is  out  in  ascribing  another  fixed 
day  to  the  work;  (see  lib.  x.  fol.  194.)  But  then  the 
declaring  him  that  day,  is  wrong  chronology  too ;  for 
Christ  is  declared  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  only  by 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ;  and  this  is  both  a  declar- 
ation in  heaven,  and  in  earth,  (Rom.  i.  4.)  And  Mil- 
ton can  have  no  authority  to  tell  us,  there  was  any 
declaration  of  it  in  heaven  before  this,  except  it  be 
that  dull  authority  called  poetic  license,  which  will 
not  pass  in  so  solemn  an  affair  as  that. 

But  the  thing  was  necessary  to  Milton,  who  wanted 
to  assign  some  cause  or  original  of  the  Devil's  rebel- 
lion ;  and  so,  as  I  said  above,  the  design  is  well  laid ; 
it  only  wants  two  trifles,  called  truth  and  history ;  so  I 
leave  it  to  struggle  for  itself. 

This  ground-plot  being  laid,  he  has  a  fai'r  field  for 
the  Devil  to  play  the  rebel  in  ;  for  he  immediately 
brings  him  in,  not  satisfied  with  the  exaltation  of  the 
Son  of  God.  The  case  must  be  thus  :  Satan,  being  an 
eminent  archangel,  and  perhaps  the  highest  of  all  the 
angelic  train,  hearing  this  sovereign  declaration,  that 
the  Son  of  God  was  declared  to  be  head  or  general- 
issimo of  all  the  heavenly  host,  took  it  ill  to  see 
another  put  into  the  high  station  over  his  head,  as  the 
soldiers  call  it  ;  he,  perhaps,  thinking  himself  the 
senior  officer,  and  disdaining  to  submit  to  any  but  to 
his  former  immediate  sovereign ;  in  short,  he  threw  up 
his  commission,  and,  in  order  not  to  be  compelled  to 
obey,  revolted,  and  broke  out  in  open  rebellion. 

All  this  part  is  a  decoration  noble  and  great,  nor  is 
there  any  objection  to  be  made  against  the  invention, 
because  a  deduction  of  probable  events;  but  the  plot 
is  wrong  laid,  as  is  observed  above,  because  contra- 
dicted by  the  scripture  account,  according  to  which 
Christ  was  declared  in  heaven,  not  then,  but  from 
eternity,  and  not  declared  with  power,  but  on  earth ; 


THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  59 

namely,  in  his  victory  over  sin  and  death,  by  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead  :  so  that  Mr.  Milton  is  not 
orthodox  in  this  part ;  but  lays  an  avowed  foundation 
for  the  corrupt  doctrine  of  Arius,  which  says,  there 
was  a  time  when  Christ  was  not  the  Son  of  God. 

But  to  leave  Mr.  Milton  to  his  flights,  I  agree  with 
him  in  this  part;  namely,  that  the  wicked  or  sinning 
angels,  with  the  great  archangel  at  the  head  of  them, 
revolted  from  their  obedience,  even  in  heaven  itself; 
that  Satan  began  the  wicked  defection,  and,  being  a 
chief  among  the  heavenly  host,  consequently  carried 
over  a  great  party  with  him,  who  all  together  rebelled 
against  God ;  that  upon  this  rebellion  they  were  sen- 
tenced by  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  to  be  ex- 
pelled the  holy  habitation:  this,  besides  the  authority 
of  scripture,  we  have  visible  testimonies  of,  from  the 
devils  themselves  ;  their  influences  and  operations 
among  us  every  day,  of  which  mankind  are  witnesses ; 
in  all  the  merry  things  they  do  in  his  name,  and  under 
his  protection,  in  almost  every  scene  of  life  they  pass 
through,  whether  we  talk  of  things  done  openly,  or  in 
masquerade,  things  done  in  earnest  or  in  jest. 

But  then,  what  comes  of  the  long  and  bloody  war 
that  Mr.  Milton  gives  such  a  full  and  particular  account 
of,  and  the  terrible  battles  in  heaven  between  Michael 
with  the  royal  army  of  angels  on  one  hand,  and  Satan 
with  his  rebel  host  on  the  other;  in  which  he  supposes 
the  numbers  and  strength  to  be  pretty  near  equal  ?  But 
at  length  brings  in  the  Devil's  army,  upon  doubling 
their  rage,  arrd  bringing  new  engines  of  war  into  the 
field,  putting  Michael  and  all  the  faithful  army  to  the 
worst ;  and,  in  a  word,  defeats  them  ?  For  though 
they  were  not  put  to  a  plain  flight,  in  which  case  he 
must,  at  least,  have  given  an  account  of  two  or  three 
thousand  millions  of  angels  cut  in  pieces  and  wounded, 
yet  he  allows  them  to  give  over  the  fight,  and  make  a 
kind  of  retreat ;  so  making  way  for  the  complete  vic- 
tory of  the  Son  of  God.  Now  this  is  all  invention,  or, 
at  least,  a  borrowed  thought  from  the  old  poets,  and 
the  fight  of  the  giants  against  Jupiter,  so  nobly  designed 
by  Ovid,  almost  two  thousand  years  ago :  and  there  it 
was  well  enough ;  but  whether  poetic  fancy  should  be 
allowed  to  fable  upon  heaven,  or  no,  and  upon  the 
King  of  Heaven  too,  that  I  leave  to  the  sages. 


60  THE    HISTOKY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

By  this  expulsion  of  the  devils,  it  is  allowed  hy  most 
authors,  they  are,  ipso  facto,  stript  of  the  rectitude  and 
holiness  of  their  nature,  which  was  their  beauty  and 
perfection ;  and  being  ingulfed  in  the  abyss  of  irrecov- 
erable ruin,  it  is  no  matter  where,  from  that  very  time 
they  lost  their  angelic  beautiful  form,  commenced  ugly 
frightful  monsters  and  devils,  and  became  evil  doers, 
as  well  as  evil  spirits;  filled  with  an  horrid  malignity 
and  enmity  against  their  Maker,  and  armed  with  an 
hellish  resolution  to  show  and  exert  it  on  all  occasions ; 
retaining  however  their  exalted,  spirituous  nature,  and 
having  a  vast  extensive  power  of  action,  all  which 
they  can  exert  in  nothing  else  but  doing  evil ;  for  they 
are  entirely  divested  of  either  power  or  will  to  do  good ; 
and,  even  in  doing  evil,  they  are  under  restraints  and 
limitations  of  a  superior  power,  which  it  is  their  tor- 
ment, and,  perhaps,  a  great  part  of  their  hell,  that  they 
cannot  break  through. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

What  became  of  the  Devil,  and  his  host  of  fallen  spir- 
its, after  their  being  expelled  from  heaven,  and  his 
wandering  condition  till  the  creation  ;  with  some  more 
of  Mr.  Milton's  absurdities  on  that  subject. 

HAVING  thus  brought  the  Devil  and  his  innumerable 
legions  to  the  edge  of  the  bottomless  pit,  it  remains, 
before  I  bring  them  to  action,  that  some  inquiry  should 
be  made  into  the  posture  of  their  affairs  immediately 
after  their  precipitate  fall,  and  into  the  place  of  their 
immediate  residence ;  for  this  will  appear  to  be  very 
necessary  to  Satan's  history,  and,  indeed,  so  as  that, 
without  it,  all  the  farther  account  we  have  to  give  of 
him,  will  be  inconsistent  and  imperfect. 

And  first,  I  take  upon  me  to  lay  down  some  funda- 
mentals, which  I  believe  I  shall  be  able  to  make  out 
historically,  though,  perhaps,  not  so  geographically  as 
some  have  pretended  to  do. 

1.  That  Satan  was  not  immediately,  nor  is  yet, 
locked  down  in  the  abyss  of  a  local  hell,  such  as  is 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


61 


supposed  by  some,  and  such  as  he  shall  be  at  last ;  or 
that, 

2.  If  he  was,  he  has  certain  liberties  allowed  him 
for  excursions  into  the  regions  of  this  air,  and  certain 
spheres  of  action,  in  which  he  can  and  does  move,  to 
do.  like  a  very  devil  as  he  is,  all  the  mischief  he  can. 
and  of  which  we  see  so  many  examples  both  about  us 
and  in  us ;   in  the  inquiry  after  which,  I  shall  take 
occasion  to  examine  whether  the  Devil  is  not  in  most, 
of  us  sometimes,  if  not  in  all  of  us  one  time  or  other. 

3.  That  Satan  has  no  particular  residence  in  this 
globe  or  earth  where  we  live ;  that  he  rambles  about 
among   us,   and  marches  over  and   over   our  whole 
country,  he  and  his  devils,  in  camps  volant ;  but  that 
he  pitches  his  grand  army,  or  chief  encampment,  in 
our  adjacencies  or  frontiers,  which  the  philosophers 
call  atmosphere ;  and  whence  he  is  called  the  prince 
of  the  power  of  that  element  or  part  of  the  world  we 
call    air  ;    from  whence   he   sends  out  his  spies,   his 
agents  and  emissaries,  to  get  intelligence,  and  to  carry 
his  commissions  to  his  trusty  and  well-beloved  cousins 
and  counsellors  on  earth,  by  which  his  business  is 
done,  and  his  affairs  carried  on,  in  the  world. 

Here,  again,  I  meet  Mr.  Milton,  full  in  my  face,  who 
will  have  it  that  the  Devil,  immediately  at  his  expul- 
sion, rolled  down  directly  into  hell  proper  and  local ; 
nay,  he  measures  the  very  distance,  at  least  gives  the 
length  of  the  journey  by  the  time  they  were  passing  or 
falling,  which,  he  says,  was  nine  days;  a  good  poetical 
flight,  but  neither  founded  on  scripture  or  philosophy. 
He  might  every  jot  as  well  have  brought  hell  up  to 
the  walls  of  heaven,  advanced  to  receive  them ;  or  he 
ought  to  have  considered  the  space  which  is  to  be 
allowed  to  any  locality,  let  him  take  what  part  of 
infinite  distance  between  heaven  and  created  hell  he 
pleases. 

But  let  that  be  as  Mr.  Milton's  extraordinary  genius 
pleases  to  place  it;  the  passage,  it  seems,  is  just  nine 
days  betwixt  heaven  and  hell ;  well  might  Dives  then 
see  father  Abraham,  and  talk  to  him  too;  but  then  the 
great  gulf,  which  Abraham  tells  him  was  fixed  between 
them,  does  not  seem  to  be  so  large,  as,  according  to 
6 


62  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Dr.  Halley,  Mr.  Whiston,  and  the 
rest  of  our  men  of  science,  we  take  it  to  be. 

But  suppose  the  passage  to  he  nine  days,  according 
to  Mr.  Milton,  what  followed?  Why,  hell  gaped  wide, 
opened  its  frightful  mouth,  and  received  them  all  at 
once  ;  millions  and  thousands  of  millions  as  they  were, 
it  received  them  all  at  a  gulp,  as  we  call  it ;  they  had 
no  difficulty  to  go  in,  no,  none  at  all. 

"  Facilis  descensus  Averni : 


Sed  revocare  gradum — 

Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est." — Virg. 

All  this,  as  poetical,  we  may  receive,  but  not  at  all 
as  historical ;  for  then  come  difficulties  insuperable  in 
our  way;  some  of  which  may  be  as  follow:  1.  Hell 
is  here  supposed  to  be  a  place;  nay,  a  place  created  for 
the  punishment  of  angels  and  men,  and  likewise  cre- 
ated long  before  those  had  fallen,  or  these  had  being  : 
this  makes  me  say,  Mr.  Milton  was  a  good  poet,  but 
a  bad  historian  :  Tophet  was  prepared  of  old,  indeed  ; 
but  it  was  for  the  king,  that  is  to  say,  it  was  prepared 
for  those  whose  lot  it  should  be  to  come  thither ;  but 
this  does  not  at  all  suppose  it  was  prepared  before  it 
was  resolved  whether  there  should  be  subjects  for  it, 
or  no ;  else  we  must  suppose  both  men  and  angels 
were  made  by  the  glorious  and  upright  Maker  of  all 
things,  on  purpose  for  destruction,  which  would  be 
incongruous  and  absurd. 

But  there  is  worse  yet  to  come :  in  the  next  place 
he  adds,  that  hell  having  received  them,  closed  upon 
them ;  that  is  to  say,  took  them  in,  closed  or  shut  its 
mouth;  and  in  a  word,  they  were  locked  in,  as  it  was 
said  in  another  place,  they  were  locked  in,  and  the 
key  is  carried  up  to  heaven,  and  kept  there ;  for  we 
know  the  angel  came  down  from  heaven,  having  the 
key  of  the  bottomless  pit ;  but  first,  see  Mr.  Milton  : 

"  Nine  days  they  fell :  confounded  chaos  roared, 
And  felt  tenfold  confusion  in  their  fall : 

. Hell  at  last 

Yawning  received  them  whole,  and  on  them  closed ; 
Down  from  the  verge  of  heaven,  eternal  wrath 
Burnt  after  them — 
Unquenchable." 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

This  scheme  is  certainly  deficient,  if  not  absurd ; 
and  I  think  is  more  so  than  any  other  he  has  laid  :  it 
is  evident,  neither  Satan,  or  his  host  of  devils,  are,  no 
not  any  of  them,  yet,  even  now,  confined  in  the  eternal 
prison,  where,  the  scripture  says,  he  shall  be  reserved 
in  chains  of  darkness.  They  must  have  mean  thoughts 
of  hell,  as  a  prison,  a  local  confinement,  that  can 
suppose  the  Devil  able  to  break  gaol,  knock  off  his 
fetters,  and  come  abroad,  if  he  had  been  once  locked 
in  there,  as  Mr.  Milton  says  he  was :  now  we  know, 
that  he  is  abroad  again ;  he  presented  himself  before 
God,  among  his  neighbors,  when  Job's  case  came  to 
be  discoursed  of;  and,  more  than  that,  it  is  plain  he 
was  a  prisoner  at  large,  by  his  answer  to  God's  ques- 
tion, which  was,  Whence  comest  thou?  to  which  he 
answered,  From  going  to  and  fro  through  the  earth, 
&c.  This,  I  say,  is  plain  ;  and  if  it  be  as  certain,  that 
hell  closed  upon  them,  I  demand  then,  how  got  he 
out?  And  why  was  there  not  a  proclamation  for 
apprehending  him,  as  there  usually  is,  after  such 
rogues  as  break  prison  ? 

In  short,  the  true  account  of  the  Devil's  circum- 
stances, since  his  fall  from  heaven,  is  much  more 
likely  to  be  thus :  That  he  is  more  of  a  vagrant  than 
a  prisoner ;  that  he  is  a  wanderer  in  the  wild  unbounded 
waste,  where  he  and  his  legions,  like  the  hordes  of 
Tartary,  who,  in  the  wild  countries  of  Karakathay, 
the  deserts  of  Barkan,  Kassan,  and  Astracan,  live  up 
and  down  where  they  find  proper ;  so  Satan  and  his 
innumerable  legions  rove  about  hie  et  ubique,  pitch- 
ing their  camps  (being  beasts  of  prey)  where  they  find 
the  most  spoil ;  watching  over  this  world  (and  all  the 
other  worlds,  for  aught  we  know,  and  if  there  are  any 
such;)  I  say  watching  and  seeking  whom  they  may 
devour,  that  is,  whom  they  may  deceive  and  delude, 
and  so  destroy,  for  devour  they  cannot. 

Satan,  being  thus  confined  to  a  vagabond,  wander- 
ing, unsettled  condition,  is  without  any  certain  abode ; 
for  though  he  has,  in  consequence  of  his  angelic  nature, 
a  kind  of  empire  in  the  liquid  waste  of  air;  yet  this  is 
certainly  part  of  his  punishment,  that  he  is  continually 
hovering  over  this  inhabited  globe  of  earth;  swelling 
with  the  rage  of  envy  at  the  felicity  of  his  rival  man ; 


64  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

and  studying  all  the  means  possible  to  injure  and  ruin 
him;  but  extremely  limited  in  power,  to  his  unspeak- 
able mortification:  this  is  his  present  state,  without 
any  fixed  abode,  place,  or  space,  allowed  him  to  rest 
the  sole  of  his  foot  upon. 

From  his  expulsion,  I  take  his  first  view  of  horror 
to  be  that  of  looking  back  towards  the  heaven  which 
he  had  lost;  there  to  see  the  chasm  or  opening  made 
up,  out  at  which,  as  at  a  breach  in  the  wall  of  the 
holy  place,  he  was  thrust  headlong  by  the  power  which 
expelled  him ;  I  say,  to  see  the  breach  repaired,  the 
mounds  built  up,  the  walls  garrisoned  with  millions 
of  angels,  and  armed  with  thunders;  and  above  all, 
made  terrible  by  that  glory  from  whose  presence  they 
were  expelled,  as  is  poetically  hinted  at  before. 

Upon  this  sight,  it  is  no  wonder  (if  there  was  such 
a  place)  that  they  fled  till  the  darkness  might  cover 
them,  and  that  they  might  be  out  of  the  view  of  so 
hated  a  sight. 

Wherever  they  found  it,  you  may  be  sure  they 
pitched  their  first  camp  ;  and  began,  after  many  a  sour 
reflection  upon  what  was  passed,  to  consider  arid  think 
a  little  upon  what  was  to  come. 

If  I  had  as  much  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
Devil,  as  would  admit  it,  and  could  depend  upon  the 
truth  of  what  answer  he  would  give  me,  the  first 
question  I  would  ask  him,  should  be,  what  measures 
they  resolved  on  at  their  first  assembly?  And  the  next 
should  be,  how  they  were  employed  in  all  that  space 
of  time,  between  their  so  flying  the  face  of  their 
almighty  Conqueror,  and  the  creation  of  man?  As  for 
the  length  of  the  time,  which,  according  to  the  learned, 
was  twenty  thousand  years,  and,  according  to  the 
more  learned,  not  half  a  quarter  so  much,  I  would  not 
concern  my  curiosity  much  about  it ;  it  is  most  cer- 
tain, there  was  a  considerable  time  between  ;  but  of 
that  immediately  :  first  let  me  inquire  what  they  were 
doing  all  that  time. 

The  Devil  and  his  host  being  thus,  I  say,  cast  out 
of  heaven,  and  not  yet  confined  strictly  to  hell,  it  is 
plain  they  must  be  somewhere;  Satan  and  all  his 
legions  did  not  lose  their  existence,  no,  nor  the  exist- 
ence of  devils  neither ;  God  was  so  far  from  annihil- 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  65 

ating  him,  that  he  still  preserved  his  being;  and  this 
not  Mr.  Milton  only,  but  God  himself,  has  made 
known  to  us,  having  left  his  history  so  far  upon  record  : 
several  expressions  in  scripture  also  make  it  evident, 
as  particularly  the  story  of  Job,  mentioned  before  ;  the 
like  in  our  Saviour's  time,  and  several  others. 

If  hell  did  not  immediately  engulf  them,  as  Milton 
suggests,  it  is  certain,  I  say,  that  they  fled  somewhere, 
from  the  anger  of  Heaven,  from  the  face  of  the 
Avenger;  and  his  absence,  and  their  own  guilt,  won- 
der not  at  it,  would  make  hell  enough  for  them,  wher- 
ever they  went. 

Nor  need  we  fly  to  the  dreams  of  our  astronomers, 
who  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  fill  up  the  vast 
spaces  of  the  starry  heavens  with  innumerable  habit- 
able worlds  :  allowing  as  many  solar  systems  as  there 
are  fixed  stars,  and  that  not  only  in  the  known  con- 
stellations, but  even  in  the  galaxy  itself;  who  to  every 
such  system  allow  a  certain  number  of  planets,  and  to 
every  one  of  those  planets  so  many  satellites  or  moons, 
and  all  these  planets  or  moons  to  be  worlds;  solid, 
dark,  opaque  bodies,  habitable,  and  (as  they  would 
have  us  believe)  inhabited  by  the  like  animals  and 
rational  creatures  as  on  this  earth ;  so  that  they  may, 
at  this  rate,  find  room  enough  for  the  Devil  and  all 
his  angels,  without  making  an  hell  on  purpose ;  nay, 
they  may,  for  aught  I  know,  find  a  world  for  every 
devil  in  all  the  Devil's  host ;  and  so  every  one  may  be 
a  monarch  or  master-devil,  separately  in  his  own 
sphere  or  world,  and  play  the  devil  there  by  himself. 

And  even  if  this  were  so,  it  cannot  be  denied  but 
that  one  devil  in  a  place  would  be  enough  for  a  whole 
systemary  world,  and  be  able,  if  not  restrained,  to  do 
mischief  enough  there  too,  and  even  to  ruin  and  over- 
throw the  whole  body  of  people  contained  in  it, 

But,  I  say,  we  need  not  fly  to  these  shifts,  or  con- 
sult the  astronomers  in  the  decision  of  this  point ;  for 
wherever  Satan  and  his  defeated  host  went,  at  their 
expulsion  from  heaven,  we  think  we  are  certain  none 
of  all  these  beautiful  worlds,  or  be  they  worlds  or  no, 
I  mean  the  fixed  stars,  planets,  &c.  had  then  any 
existence ;  for  the  beginning,  as  the  scripture  calls  it, 
was  not  yet  begun. 


66  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

But  to  speak  a  little  by  the  rules  of  philosophy,  that 
is  to  say,  so  as  to  be  understood  by  others,  even  when 
we  speak  of  things  we  cannot  fully  understand  our- 
selves :  though  in  the  beginning  of  time,  all  this  glo- 
rious creation  was  formed,  the  earth,  the  starry  hea- 
vens, and  all  the  furniture  thereof,  and  there  was  a 
time  when  they  were  not ;  yet  we  cannot  say  so  of 
the  void,  or  that  nameless  nowhere,  as  I  called  it 
before,  which  now  appears  to  be  a  somewhere,  in 
which  these  glorious  bodies  are  placed.  That  immense 
space  which  those  take  up,  and  which  they  move  in 
at  this  time,  must  be  supposed,  before  they  had  being, 
to  be  placed  there ;  as  God  himself  was,  and  existed, 
before  all  being,  time,  or  place  ;  so  the  heaven  of 
heavens,  or  the  place  where  the  thrones  and  domin- 
ions of  his  kingdom  then  existed,  inconceivable  and 
ineffable,  had  an  existence  before  the  glorious  seraphs, 
the  innumerable  company  of  angels  which  attended 
about  the  throne  of  God,  existed ;  these  all  had  a  being 
long  before,  as  the  eternal  creator  of  them  all  had 
before  them. 

Into  this  void  or  abyss  of  nothing,  however  im- 
measurable, infinite,  and  even  to  those  spirits  them- 
selves inconceivable,  they  certainly  launched  from  the 
bright  precipice  which  they  fell  from,  and  here  they 
shifted  as  well  as  they  could. 

Here  expanding  those  wings  which  fear  and  horror 
at  their  defeat  furnished  them,  as  I  hinted  before,  they 
hurried  away  to  the  utmost  distance  possible,  from  the 
face  of  God  their  conqueror,  and  then  most  dreaded 
enemy ;  formerly  their  joy  and  glory. 

Be  this  utmost  removed  distance  where  it  will,  here, 
certainly,  Satan  and  all  his  gang  of  devils,  his  num- 
berless, though  routed  armies,  retired.  Here  Milton 
might,  with  some  good  ground,  have  formed  his  pande- 
monium, and  have  brought  them  in,  consulting  what 
was  next  to  be  done,  and  whether  there  was  any  room 
left  to  renew  the  war,  or  to  carry  on  the  rebellion ;  but 
had  they  been  cast  immediately  into  hell,  closed  up 
there,  the  bottomless  pit  locked  upon  them,  and  the 
key  carried  up  to  heaven,  to  be  kept  there,  as  Mr. 
Milton  himself  in  part  confesses,  and  the  scripture 
affirms ;  I  say,  had  this  been  so,  the  Devil  himself 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  67 

could  not  have  been  so  ignorant  as  to  think  of  any 
future  steps  to  be  taken,  to  retrieve  his  affairs;  and 
therefore  a  pandemonium,  or  divan  in  hell,  to  consult 
of  it,  was  ridiculous. 

All  Mr.  Milton's  scheme  of  Satan's  future  conduct, 
and  all  the  scripture  expressions  about  the  Devil  and 
his  numerous  attendants,  and  of  his  actings  since  that 
time,  make  it  not  reasonable  to  suggest,  that  the  devils 
were  confined  to  their  eternal  prison,  at  their  expul- 
sion out  of  heaven  ;  but  that  they  were  in  a  state  of 
liberty  to  act,  though  limited  in  acting,  of  which  I 
shall  also  speak  in  its  place. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Of  the  number  of  Satan? s  host.  How  they  came  first 
to  know  of  the  new-created  worlds  now  in  being  ;  and 
their  measures  with  makind  upon  the  discovery. 

SEVERAL  things  have  been  suggested  to  set  us  a  cal- 
culating the  number  of  this  frightful  throng  of  devils, 
who  with  Satan,  the  master-devil,  was  thus  cast  out 
of  heaven.  I  cannot  say  I  am  so  much  master  of 
political  arithmetic,  as  to  cast  up  the  number  of  the 
beast,  no,  nor  the  number  of  the  beasts  or  devils,  who 
make  up  this  throng.  St.  Francis,  they  tell  us,  or 
some  other  saint,  they  do  not  say  who,  asked  the 
Devil  once,  how  strong  he  was?  for  St.  Francis,  you 
must  know,  was  very  familiar  with  him  :  the  Devil,  it 
seems,  did  not  tell  him ;  but  presently  raised  a  great 
cloud  of  dust,  by  the  help,  I  suppose,  of  a  gust  of  wind, 
and  bid  that  saint  count  it :  he  was,  I  suppose,  a  calcu- 
lator, that  would  be  called  grave,  who,  dividing  Satan's 
troops  into  three  lines,  cast  up  the  number  of  the  devils 
of  all  sorts  in  each  battalia,  at  ten  hundred  times  a  hun- 
dred thousand  millions  of  the  first  line,  fifty  millions 
of  times  as  many  in  the  second  line,  and  three  hundred 
thousand  times  as  many  as  both  in  the  third  line. 

The  impertinence  of  this  account  would  hardly  have 
given  it  a  place  here,  only  to  hint,  that  it  has  always 
been  the  opinion,  that  Satan's  name  may  well  be 
called  a  noun  of  multitude,  and  that  the  Devil  and  his 


68  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

angels  are  certainly  no  inconsiderable  number.  It  was 
a  smart  repartee  that  a  Venetian  nobleman  made  to  a 
priest,  who  rallied  him  upon  his  refusing  to  give  some- 
thing to  the  church,  which  the  priest  demanded  for  the 
delivering  him  from  purgatory  ;  when  the  priest  asking 
him,  "if  he  knew  what  an  innumerable  number  of 
devils  there  were  to  take  him?"  he  answered.  "  yes, 
he  knew  how  many  devils  there  were  in  all."  "  How 
many  ?"  says  the  priest ;  his  curiosity,  I  suppose  being 
raised  by  the  novelty  of  the  answer.  "Why,  ten  mil- 
lions five  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  six  hundred 
and  seventy-five  devils  and  an  half,"  says  the  noble- 
man. "  An  half,"  says  the  priest,  "  pray  what  kind 
of  a  devil  is  that  ?"  "  Yourself,"  says  the  nobleman  ; 
"  for  you  are  half  a  devil  already,  (and  will  be  a  whole 
one  when  you  come  there;)  for  you  are  for  deluding 
all  you  deal  with,  and  bringing  us  soul  and  body 
into  your  hands,  that  you  may  be  paid  for  letting  us  go 
again."  So  much  for  their  number. 

Here  also  it  would  come  in  very  aptly,  to  consider 
the  state  of  that  long  interval  between  the  time  of  their 
expulsion  from  heaven,  and  the  creation  of  the  world  ; 
and  what  the  posture  of  the  Devil's  affairs  might  be, 
during  that  time.  The  horror  of  their  condition  can 
only  be  conceived  of  at  a  distance,  and  especially  by 
us,  who,  being  embodied  creatures,  cannot  fully  judge 
of  what  is,  or  is  not,  a  punishment  to  seraphs  and 
spirits;  but  it  is  just  to  suppose  they  suffered  all  that 
spirits  of  a  seraphic  nature  were  capable  to  sustain, 
consistent  with  their  existence ;  notwithstanding  which 
they  retained  still  the  hellishness  of  their  rebellious 
principles ;  namely,  their  hatred  and  rage  against  God, 
and  their  envy  at  the  felicity  of  his  creatures. 

As  to  how  long  their  time  might  be,  I  shall  leave 
that  search,  no  lights  being  given  me  that  are  either 
probable  or  rational;  and  we  have  so  little  room 
to  make  a  judgment  of  it,  that  we  may  as  well  believe 
Falher  M ,  who  supposes  it  to  be  an  hundred  thou- 
sand years,  as  those  who  judge  it  one  thousand  years ; 
it  is  enough  that  we  are  sure,  it  was  before  the  creation, 
how  long  before  is  not  material  to  the  Devil's  history, 
unless  we  had  some  records  of  what  happened  to  him, 
or  was  done  by  him,  in  the  interval. 

During  the  wandering  condition  the  Devil  was  in  at 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  69 

that  time,  we  may  suppose  him  and  his  whole  clan 
to  be  employed  in  exerting  their  hatred  and  rage  at 
the  Almighty,  and  at  the  happiness  of  the  remaining 
faithful  angels,  by  all  the  ways  they  had  power  to 
show  it. 

From  this  determined  stated  enmity  of  Satan  and 
his  host  against  God,  and  at  everything  that  brought 
glory  to  his  name,  Mr.  Milton  brings  in  Satan,  (when 
first  he  saw  Adam  in  Paradise,  and  the  felicity  of  his 
station  there,)  swelling  with  rage  and  envy,  and  taking 
up  a  dreadful  resolution  to  ruin  Adam  and  all  his 
posterity,  merely  to  disappoint  his  Maker  of  the  glory 
of  his  creation.  I  shall  come  to  speak  of  that  in  its 
place. 

How  Satan,  in  his  remote  situation,  got  intelligence 
of  the  place  where  to  find  Adam  out,  or  that  any  such 
thing  as  a  man  was  created,  is  matter  of  just  specula- 
tion, and  there  might  be  many  rational  schemes  laid 
for  it.  Mr.  Milton  does  not  undertake  to  tell  us  the 
particulars,  nor  indeed  could  he  find  room  for  it ;  per- 
haps, the  Devil,  having,  as  I  have  said,  a  liberty  to 
range  over  the  whole  void  or  abyss,  which  we  want  as 
well  a  name  for,  as  indeed  powers  to  conceive  of,  might 
have  discovered,  that  the  Almighty  creator  had  formed 
a  new  and  glorious  work,  with  infinite  beauty  and 
variety,  filling  up  the  immense  waste  of  space,  in 
which  he,  (the  Devil,)  and  his  angels,  had  roved  for 
so  long  a  time,  without  finding  anything  to  work  on, 
or  to  exert  their  apostate  rage  in  against  their  Maker. 

That  at  length  they  found  the  infinite  untrodden 
space  on  a  sudden,  spread  full  with  glorious  bodies, 
shining  in  self-existing  beauty,  with  a  new  and  to  them 
unknown  lustre,  calted  light.  They  found  these  lumi- 
nous bodies,  though  immense  in  bulk,  and  infinite  in 
number,  yet  fixed  in  their  wondrous  stations  regular 
and  exact  in  their  motions,  confined  in  their  proper 
orbits,  tending  to  their  particular  centres,  and  enjoy- 
ing every  one  their  peculiar  systems,  within  which 
were  contained  innumerable  planets,  with  their  satel- 
lites or  moons,  in  which,  again,  a  reciprocal  influence, 
motion,  and  revolution,  conspired  to  form  the  most 
admirable  uniformity  of  the  whole. 

Surprised,  to  be  sure,  with  this  sudden  and  yet  glorious 


70  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

work  of  the  Almighty,  (for  the  creation  was  enough, 
with  its  lustre,  even  to  surprise  the  Devils,)  they  might 
reasonably  be  supposed  to  start  out  of  their  dark 
retreat,  and  with  a  curiosity  not  below  the  seraphic 
dignity  (for  these  are  some  of  the  things  which  the 
angels  desire  to  look  into)  to  take  a  flight  through  all 
the  amazing  systems  of  the  fixed  suns  or  stars,  which 
we  see  now  but  at  a  distance,  and  only  make  astro- 
nomical guesses  at. 

Here  the  Devil  found  not  subject  of  wonder  only, 
but  matter  to  swell  his  revolted  spirit  with  more  rage, 
and  to  revive  the  malignity  of  his  mind  against  his 
Maker,  and  especially  against  this  new  increase  of 
glory,  which  to  his  infinite  regret  was  extended  over 
the  whole  waste,  and  which  he  looked  upon,  as  we 
say  in  human  affairs,  as  a  pays  conquis,  or,  if  you  will 
have  it  in  the  language  of  the  Devil,  as  an  invasion 
upon  his  kingdom. 

Here  it  naturally  occurred  to  them,  in  their  state  of 
envy  and  rebellion,  that  though  they  could  not  assault 
the  impregnable  walls  of  heaven,  and  could  no  more 
pretend  to  raise  war  in  the  place  of  blessedness  and 
peace ;  yet  that  perhaps  they  might  find  room  in  this 
new,  and  however  glorious,  yet  inferior  kingdom  or 
creation,  to  work  some  despite  to  their  great  Creator, 
or  to  affront  his  majesty  in  the  person  of  some  of  his 
new-made  creatures  ;  and  upon  this  they  may  be  justly 
supposed  to  double  their  vigilance,  in  the  survey  they 
resolve  to  take  of  these  new  worlds,  however  great, 
numberless,  and  wonderful. 

What  discoveries  they  may  have  made  in  the  other 
and  greater  worlds,  than  this  earth,  we  have  not  yet 
had  an  account :  Possibly  they  are  conversant  with 
other  parts  of  God's  creation,  besides  this  little,  little 
globe,  which  is  but  as  a  point  in  comparison  of  the 
rest ;  and  with  other  of  God's  creatures  besides  man, 
who  may,  according  to  the  opinion  of  our  philoso- 
phers, inhabit  those  worlds  ;  but  as  nobody  knows 
that  part  but  the  Devil,  we  shall  not  trouble  ourselves 
with  the  inquiry. 

But  it  is  very  reasonable,  and  indeed  probable,  that 
the  Devils  were  more  than  ordinarily  surprised  at  the 
nature  and  reason  of  all  this  glorious  creation,  after 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  71 

% 

they  bad,  with  the  utmost  curiosity,  viewed  all  the 
parts  of  it.  The  glories  of  the  several  systems ;  the 
immense  spaces  in  which  those  glorious  bodies  that 
were  created,  and  made  part  of  it,  were  allowed  re- 
spectively to  move ;  the  innumerable  fixed  stars,  as  so 
many  suns  in  the  centre  of  so  many  distant  solar  sys- 
tems ;  the  (likewise  innumerable)  dark  opaque  bodies 
receiving  light,  and  depending  upon  those  suns  respec- 
tively for  such  light,  and  then  reflecting  that  light 
again  upon,  and  for  the  use  of,  one  another.  To  see 
the  beauty  and  splendor  of  their  forms,  the  regularity 
of  their  position,  the  order  and  exactness,  and  yet 
inconceivable  velocity,  of  their  motions,  the  certainty 
of  their  revolutions,  and  the  variety  and  virtue  of  their 
influences;  and  then,  which  was  even  to  the  Devils 
themselves  most  astonishing,  that  after  all  the  rest  of 
their  observations  they  should  find  this  whole  immense 
work  was  adapted  for.  and  made  subservient  to,  the 
use,  delight,  and  blessing,  only  of  one  poor  species,  in 
itself  small,  and  in  appearance  contemptible  ;  the 
meanest  of  all  the  kinds  supposed  to  inhabit  so  many 
glorious  worlds,  as  appeared  now  to  be  formed  ;  I 
mean,  that  moon  called  the  earth,  and  the  creature 
called  man ;  that  all  was  made  for  him,  upheld  by  the 
wise  Creator,  on  his  account  only;  and  would  neces- 
sarily end  and  cease  whenever  that  species  should  end, 
and  be  determined. 

That  this  creature  was  to  be  found  nowhere  but  (as 
above)  in  one  little  individual  moon;  a  spot  less  than 
almost  any  of  the  moons,  which  were  in  such  great 
numbers  to  be  found  attendant  upon,  and  prescribed 
within,  every  system  of  the  whole  created  Heavens: 
this  was  astonishing  even  to  the  Devil  himself;  nay, 
the  whole  clan  of  devils  could  scarce  entertain  any 
jnst  ideas  of  the  thing  ;  till  at  last  Satan,  indefatigable 
in  his  search  or  inquiry  into  the  nature  and  reason  of 
this  new  work,  and  particularly  searching  into  the 
species  of  man,  whom  he  found  God  had  thus  placed 
in  the  little  globe,  called  earth;  he  soon  came  to  an 
eclair cissement,  or  a  clear  understanding  of  the  whole. 
For  example : 

1.  He  found  tl^is  creature,  called  man,  was,  how- 
pver  mean  and  small  in  his  appearance,  a  kind  of  a 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


seraphic  species :  that  he  was  made  in  the  very  image 
of  God,  endowed  with  reasonable  faculties  to  know 
good  and  evil,  and  possessed  of  a  certain  thing  till 
then  unknown  and  unheard  of  even  in  hell  itself;  that 
is,  in  the  habitation  of  devils,  let  that  be  where  it 
would;  namely, 

2.  That  God  had  made  him  indeed  of  the  lowest 
and  coarsest  materials  ;  but  that  he  had  breathed  into 
him  the  breath  of  life,  and  that  he  became  a  living 
thing  called  Soul,  being  a  kind  of  an  extraordinary 
heavenly  and  divine   emanation  ;    and   consequently 
that  man,    however   mean    and    terrestrial    his    body 
might  be,  was  yet  heaven-born,  in  his  spirituous  part 
completely  seraphic ;  and  after  a  space  of  life  here, 
(determined  to  be  a  state  of  probation,)  he  should  be 
translated   through   the  regions   of  death  into  a  life 
purely  and  truly  heavenly,  and  which  should  remain 
so  forever  :    being  capable  of  knowing  and  en  joy  ing- 
God,  his  Maker,  and  standing  in  his  presence,  as  the 
glorified  angels  do. 

3.  That  he  had  the  most  sublime  faculties  infused 
into  him  ;  was  capable  not  only  of  knowing  and  con- 
templating God,  and,  which  was  still  more,  of  enjoying 
him,  as  above ;  but  (which  the  Devil  now  was  not,) 
capable  of  honoring  and   glorifying  his  Maker;  who 
also  had  condescended  to  accept  of  honor  from  him. 

4.  And,  which  was  still  more,  that,  being  of  an  an- 
gelic nature,  though  mixed  with,  and  confined  for  the 
present  in,  a  case  of  mortal  flesh,  he  was  intended  to  be 
removed  from  this  earth  after  a  certain  time  of  life 
here,  to  inhabit  that  heaven,  and  enjoy  that  very  glory 
and  felicity,  from  which  Satan  and  his  angels  had 
been  expelled. 

When  he  found  all  this,  it  presently  occurred  to  him, 
that  God  had  done  it  all  as  an  act  of  triumph  over 
him,  (Satan ;)  and  that  these  creatures  were  only  cre- 
ated to  people  heaven,  depopulated  or  stript  of  its 
inhabitants  by  his  expulsion ;  and  that  these  were  all 
to  be  made  angels  in  the  devils'  stead. 

If  this  thought  increased  his  fury  and  envy,  as  far 
as  rage  of  devils  can  be  capable  of  being  made  greater ; 
it  doubtless  set  him  on  work  to  give  a  vent  to  that 
rage  and  envy,  by  searching  into  the  nature  and  con- 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  73 

stitution  of  this  creature,  called  man ;  and  to  find  out 
whether  he  was  invulnerable,  and  could  by  no  means 
be  hurt  by  the  power  of  hell,  or  deluded  by  his  subtil- 
ty  ;  or  whether  he  might  be  beguiled  and  deluded ; 
and  so,  instead  of  being  preserved  in  holiness  and 
purity,  wherein  he  was  certainly  created,  be  brought 
to  fall  and  rebel,  as  he  (Satan)  had  done  before  him ; 
by  which,  instead  of  being  transplanted  into  a  glorious 
state,  after  this  life,  in  heaven,  as  his  Maker  had 
designed  him  to  be,  to  fill  up  the  angelic  choir,  and 
supply  the  place,  from  whence  he  (Satan)  had  fallen, 
he  might  be  made  to  fall  also  like  him,  and,  in  a  word, 
be  made  a  devil  like  himself. 

This  convinces  us,  that  the  Devil  has  not  lost  his 
natural  powers  by  his  fall ;  and  our  learned  commen- 
tator, Mr.  Pool,  is  of  the  same  opinion ;  though  he 
grants,  that  the  Devil  has  lost  his  moral  power,  or  his 
power  of  doing  good,  which  he  can  never  recover. 
Vide  Mr.  Pool  upon  Acts  xix.  16,  where  we  may  par- 
ticularly observe,  when  the  man  possessed  with  an 
evil  spirit  flew  upon  the  seven  sons  of  Sceva,  the  Jew, 
who  would  have  exorcised  them  in  the  name  of  Jesus, 
without  the  authority  of  Jesus,  or  without  faith  in 
him,  he  flew  on  them,  and  mastered  them,  so  that  they 
fled  out  of  the  house  from  the  Devil,  conquered,  naked, 
arid  wounded.  But  of  this  power  of  the  Devil  I  shall 
speak  by  itself. 

In  a  word,  and  to  sum  up  all  the  Devil's  story  from 
his  first  expulsion,  it  stands  thus :  For  so  many  years 
as  were  between  his  fall  and  the  creation  of  man, 
though  we  have  no  memoirs  of  his  particular  affairs, 
we  have  reason  to  believe  he  was  without  any  manner 
of  employment ;  but  a  certain  tormenting  endeavor  to 
be  always  expressing  his  rage  and  enmity  against 
heaven ;  I  call  it  tormenting,  because  ever  disap- 
pointed ;  every  thought  about  it  proving  empty;  every 
attempt  towards  it  abortive ;  leaving  him  only  light 
enough  to  see  still  more  and  more  reason  to  despair  of 
success ;  and  that  this  made  his  condition  still  more 
and  more  an  hell  than  it  was  before. 

After  a  space  of  duration  in  this  misery,  which  we 
have  no  light  given  us  to  measure,  or  judge  of,  he  at 
length  discovered  the  new  creation  of  man,  as  above ; 


74  THE   HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL. 

upon  which  he  soon  found  matter  to  set  himself  to 
work,  and  has  been  busily  employed  ever  since. 

And  now  indeed  there  may  be  room  to  suggest  a 
local  hell,  and  the  confinement  of  souls  (made  corrupt 
and  degenerate  by  him)  to  it,  as  a,  place ;  though  he 
himself,  as  is  still  apparent  by  his  actings,  is  not  yet 
con&ned  to  it.  Of  this  hell,  its  locality,  extent,  dimen- 
sions, continuance,  and  nature,  as  it  does  not  belong 
to  Satan's  history,  I  have  a  good  excuse  for  saying 
nothing,  and  so  put  off  my  meddling  with  that,  which 
if  I  would  meddle  with,  I  could  say  nothing  of  to  the 
purpose. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Of  the  power  of  the  Demi  at  the  time  of  the  creation  of 
this  world;  whether  it  has  not  been  farther  strait- 
ened and  limited  since  that  time ;  and  what  shifts 
and  stratagems  he  is  obliged  to  make  use  of  to  com- 
pass his  designs  upon  mankind. 

CUNNING  men  have  fabled,  and  though  it  be  without 
either  religion,  authority,  or  physical  foundation,  it 
may  be  we  may  like  it  never  the  worse  for  that;  that 
when  God  made  the  stars,  and  all  the  heavenly  lumi- 
naries, the  Devil,  to  mimic  his  Maker,  and  insult  his 
new  creation,  made  comets,  in  imitation  of  the  fixed 
stars ;  but  that  the  composition  of  them  being  combus- 
tible, when  they  came  to  wander  in  the  abyss,  rolling 
by  an  irregular  ill-grounded  motion,  they  took  fire,  in 
their  approach  to  some  of  those  great  bodies  of  flame, 
the  fixed  stars;  and  being  thus  kindled  (like  a  fire- 
work unskilfully  let  off)  they  then  took  wild  and 
eccentric,  as  also  different  motions  of  their  own,  out 
of  Satan's  direction,  and  beyond  his  power  to  regulate 
ever  after. 

Let  this  thought  stand  by  itself,  it  matters  not  to  pur 
purpose  whether  we  believe  anything  of  it,  or  no;  it  is 
enough  to  our  case,  that  if  Satan  had  any  such  power 
then,  he  has  no  such  power  now ;  and  that  leads  me 
to  inquire  into  his  more  recent  limitations. 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


rs 


I  am  to  suppose,  he  and  all  his  accomplices,  being 
confounded  at  the  discovery  of  the  new  creation,  and 
racking  their  wits  to  find  out  the  meaning  of  it,  had 
at  last  (no  matter  how)  discovered  the  whole  system, 
and  concluded,  as  I  have  said,  that  the  creature,  called 
man,  was  to  be  their  successor  in  the  heavenly  man- 
sions ;  upon  which  I  suggest,  that  the  first  motion  of 
hell  was  to  destroy  this  new  work,  and,  if  possible,  to 
overwhelm  it. 

But  when  they  came  to  make  the  attempt,  they 
found  their  chains  were  not  long  enough,  and  that  they 
could  not  reach  the  extremes  of  the  systems.  They 
had  no  power  either  to  break  the  order,  or  to  stop  the 
motion,  dislocate  the  parts,  or  confound  the  situation, 
of  things ;  they  traversed,  no  doubt,  the  whole  work, 
visited  every  star,  landed  upon  every  solid,  and  sailed 
upon  every  fluid,  in  the  whole  scheme,  to  see  what 
mischief  they  could  do. 

Upon  a  long  and  full  survey,  they  came  to  this  point 
in  their  inquiry,  that,  in  short,  they  could  do  nothing 
by  force ;  that  they  could  riot  displace  any  part,  anni- 
hilate any  atom,  or  destroy  any  life,  in  the  whole  cre- 
ation ;  but  that  as  omnipotence  had  created  itf  so  the 
same  omnipotence  had  armed  it  at  all  points  against 
the  utmost  power  of  hell ;  had  made  the  smallest  crea- 
ture in  it  invulnerable,  as  to  Satan ;  so  that  without 
the  permission  of  the  same  power  which  had  made 
heaven,  and  conquered  the  Devil,  he  could  do  nothing 
at  all,  as  to  destroying  anything  that  God  had  made, 
no,  not  the  little  diminutive  thing  called  man,  whom 
Satan  saw  so  much  reason  to  hate,  as  being  created  to 
succeed  him  in  happiness  in  heaven. 

Satan  found  him  placed  out  of  his  power  to  hurt,  or 
out  of  his  reach  to  touch.  And  here,  by  the  way, 
appears  the  second  conquest  of  heaven  over  the  Devil ; 
that  having  placed  his  rival,  as  it  were,  just  before  his 
face,  and  showed  the  hateful  sight  to  him,  he  saw 
written  upon  his  image,  touch  him  if  you  dare. 

It  cannot  be  doubted,  but,  had  it  not  been  thus,  man 
is  so  far  from  being  a  match  for  the  Devil,  that  one  of 
Satan's  least  imps  or  angels  could  destroy  all  the  race 
of  them  in  the  world,  ay,  world  and  all,  in  a  moment. 

As  he  is  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  taking  the 


76  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL. 

air  for  the  elementary  world,  how  easily  could  he,  at 
one  blast,  sweep  all  the  surface  of  the  earth  into  the 
sea;  or  drive  weighty  immense  surges  of  the  ocean 
over  the  whole  plain  of  the  earth,  and  deluge  the  globe 
at  once  with  a  storm  !  Or  how  easily  could  he,  who, 
by  the  situation  of  the  empire,  must  be  supposed  able 
to  manage  the  clouds,  draw  them  up  in  such  position 
as  should  naturally  produce  thunders  and  lightnings, 
cause  those  lightnings  to  blast  the  earth,  dash  in  pieces 
all  the  buildings,  burn  all  the  populous  towns  and 
cities,  and  lay  waste  the  world  ! 

At  the  same  time  he  might  command  suited  quanti- 
ties of  sublimated  air  to  burst  out  of  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  and  overwhelm  and  swallow  up,  in  the  opening 
chasms,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe. 

In  a  word,  Satan  left  to  himself  as  a  devil,  and  to 
the  power  which  by  virtue  of  his  seraphic  original  he 
must  be  vested  with,  was  able  to  have  made  devilish 
work  in  the  world,  if  by  a  superior  power  he  was  not 
restrained. 

But  there  is  no  doubt,  at  least  to  me,  but  that  with 
his  fall  from  heaven,  as  he  lost  the  rectitude  and  glory 
of  his  ajigelic  nature.  I  mean  his  innocence,  so  he  lost 
the  power  too  that  he  had  before  ;  and  that  when  he 
first  commenced  devil,  he  received  the  chains  of 
restraint  too,  as  the  badge  of  his  apostasy;  namely,  a 
general  prohibition  to  do  anything  to  the  prejudice  of 
this  creation,  or  to  act  anything  by  force  or  violence 
without  special  permission. 

This  prohibition  was  not  sent  him  by  a  messenger, 
or  by  an  order  in  writing,  or  proclaimed  from  heaven 
by  a  law  ;  but  Satan,  by  a  strange,  invisible  and 
unaccountable  impression,  felt  the  restraint  within 
him ;  and  at  the  same  time  that  his  moral  capacity 
was  not  taken  away,  yet  his  power  of  exerting  that 
capacity  felt  the  restraint,  and  left  him  unable  to  do, 
even  what  he  was  able  to  do  at  the  same  time. 

I  make  no  question  but  the  Devil  is  sensible  of  this 
restraint;  that  is  to  say,  not  as  it  is  a  restraint  only,  or 
as  an  effect  of  his  expulsion  from  heaven ;  but  as  it 
prevents  his  capital  design  against  man,  whom,  for  the 
reason  I  have  given  already,  he  entertains  a  mortal 
hatred  of,  and  would  destroy  with  all  his  heart  if  he 


THE   HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  77 

might ;  and  therefore,  like  a  chained  mastiff,  we  find 
him  oftentimes  making  an  horrid  hellish  clamor  and 
noise,  barking  and  howling,  and  frightening  the  people, 
letting  them  know,  that,  if  he  was  loose,  he  would 
tear  them  in  pieces ;  but  at  the  same  time  his  very 
fury  shakes  his  chain,  which  lets  them  know,  to  their 
satisfaction,  he  can  only  bark,  but  cannot  bite. 

Some  are  of  opinion,  that  the  Devil  is  not  restrained 
so  much  by  the  superior  power  of  his  Sovereign  and 
Maker  ;  but  that  all  his  milder  measures  with  man  are 
the  effect  of  a  political  scheme,  and  done  upon  mature 
deliberation  ;  that  it  was  resolved  to  act  thus,  in  the 
great  council  of  devils,  called  upon  this  very  occasion, 
when  they  first  were  informed  of  the  creation  of  man  ; 
and  especially  when  they  considered  what  kind  of 
creature  he  was,  and  what  might  probably  be  the  rea- 
son of  making  him ;  namely,  to  fill  up  the  vacancies 
in  heaven ;  I  say,  that  then  the  devils  resolved,  that 
it  was  not  for  their  interest  to  fall  upon  him  with  fury 
and  rage,  and  so  destroy  the  species,  for  that  this 
would  be  no  benefit  at  all  to  them,  and  would  only 
cause  another  original  man  to  be  created  ;  for  that  they 
knew  God  could,  by  the  same  omnipotence,  form  as 
many  new  species  of  creatures  as  he  pleased ;  and,  if 
he  thought  fit,  create  them  in  heaven  too,  out  of  the 
reach  of  devils,  or  evil  spirits ;  and  that,  therefore,  to 
destroy  man  would  no  way  answer  their  end. 

On  the  other  hand,  examining  strictly  the  mould  of 
this  new  made  creature,  and  of  what  materials  he  was 
formed ;  how  mixed  up  of  a  nature  convertible  and 
pervertible  ;  capable  indeed  of  infinite  excellence,  and 
consequently  of  eternal  felicity ;  but  subject,  likewise, 
to  corruption  and  degeneracy,  and,  consequently,  to 
eternal  misery ;  that,  instead  of  being  fit  to  supply  the 
places  of  Satan  and  his  rejected  tribe  (the  expelled 
angels)  in  heaven,  and  filling  up  the  thrones  or  stalls 
in  the  celestial  choir,  they  might,  if  they  could  but  be 
brought  into  crime,  become  a  race  of  rebels  and  trait- 
ors like  the  rest ;  and  so  come  at  last  to  keep  them 
company,  as  well  in  the  place  of  eternal  misery  as  in 
the  merit  of  it,  and,  in  a  word,  become  devils  instead 
of  angels ; 

Upon  this  discovery,  I  say,  they  found  it  infinitely 


78  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

more  for  the  interest  of  Satan's  infernal  kingdom,  to 
go  another  way  to  work  with  mankind,  and  see  if  it 
were  possible,  by  the  strength  of  their  infernal  wit 
and  counsels,  to  lay  some  snare  for  him,  and  by  some 
stratagem  to  bring  him  to  eternal  ruin  and  misery. 

This  being  then  approved  as  their  only  method,  (and 
the  Devil  showed  he  was  no  fool  in  the  choice,)  he 
next  resolved,  that  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost ;  that 
it  was  to  be  set  about  immediately,  before  the  race  was 
multiplied,  and  by  that  means  the  work  be  not  made 
greater  only,  but  perhaps  the  more  difficult  too.-  Ac- 
cordingly the  diligent  Devil  went  instantly  about  it, 
agreeably  to  all  the  story  of  Eve  and  the  serpent,  as 
before  ;  the  belief  of  which,  whether  historically  or 
allegorically,  is  not  at  all  obstructed  by  this  hypothesis. 

1  do  riot  affirm  that  this  was  the  case  at  first,  because 
being  not  present  in  that  black  divan,  at  least  not  that 
I  know  of,  (for  who  knows  where  he  was,  or  was  not, 
in  his  preexistent  state '?)  I  cannot  be  positive  in  the 
resolve  that  passed  there;  but  except  for  some  very 
little  contradiction,  which  we  find  in  the  sacred  writ- 
ings, I  should,  I  confess,  incline  to  believe  it  histori- 
cally; and  I  shall  speak  of  those  things  which  I  call 
contradictions  to  it  more  largely  hereafter. 

In  the  mean  time,  be  it  one  way  or  other,  that  is  to 
say,  either  that  Satan  had  no  power  to  have  proceeded 
with  man  by  violence,  and  to  have  destroyed  him  as 
soon  as  he  was  made ;  or  that  he  had  the  power,  but 
chose  rather  to  proceed  by  other  methods  to  deceive 
and  debauoh  him ;  I  say,  be  it  which  you  please,  I  am 
still  of  the  opinion,  that  it  really  was  not  the  Devil's 
business  to  destroy  the  species;  that  it  would  have 
been  nothing  to  the  purpose,  and  no  advantage  at  all 
to  him,  if  he  had  done  it ;  for  that,  as  above,  God 
could  immediately  have  created  another  species  to  the 
same  end,  whom  he  either  could  have  made  invulner- 
able, and  not  subject  to  the  Devil's  power,  or  removed 
him  out  of  Satan's  reach  ;  placed  him  out  of  the 
Devil's  ken,  in  heaven,  or  some  other  place,  where  the 
Devil  could  not  come  to  hurt  him  ;  and  that,  therefore, 
it  is  infinitely  more  his  advantage,  and  more  suited 
to  his  real  design  of  defeating  the  end  of  man's  cre- 
ation, to  debauch  him,  and  make  a  devil  of  him,  that 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  79 

he  may  be  rejected  like  himself,  and  increase  the  infer- 
nal kingdom  and  company  in  the  lake  of  misery,  in 
ceternum. 

It  may  be  true,  for  aught  I  know,  that  Satan  has  not 
the  power  of  destruction  put  into  his  hand,  and  that  he 
cannot  take  away  the  life  of  a  man :  and  it  seems 
probable  to  be  so,  from  the  story  of  Satan  and  Job, 
when  Satan  appeared  among  the  sons  of  God,  as  the 
text  says,  (Job  i.  6.)  Now  when  God  gave  such  a 
character  of  Job  to  him,  and  asked  him  if  he  had  con- 
sidered his  servant  Job,  (verse  8,)  why  did  not  the 
Devil  go  immediately  and  exert  his  malice  against  the 
good  man  at  once,  to  let  his  Maker  see  what  would 
become  of  his  servant  Job  in  his  distress  ?  On  the 
contrary,  we  see  he  only  answers  by  showing  the  rea- 
son of  Job's  good  behavior;  that  it  was  but  common 
gratitude  for  the  blessing  and  protection  he  enjoyed, 
(verse  10,)  and  pleading  that  if  his  estate  was  taken 
away,  and  he  was  exposed  as  he  (Satan)  was,  to  be  a 
beggar  and  a  vagabond,  going  to  and  fro  in  the  earth, 
and  walking  up  and  down  therein,  he  should  be  a 
very  devil  too  like  himself,  and  curse  God  to  his  face. 

Upon  this,  the  text  says  that  God  answered,  (verse 
11,)  "  Behold,  all  that  he  hath  is  in  thy  power."  Now 
it  is  plain  here,  that  God  gave  up  Job's  wealth  and 
estate,  nay,  his  family,  and  the  lives  of  his  children 
and  servants,  into  the  Devil's  power;  and  accordingly, 
like  a  true  merciless  devil,  as  he  is,  he  destroyed  them 
all ;  he  moved  the  Sabeans  to  fall  upon  the  oxen  arid 
the  asses,  and  carry  them  off;  he  moved  the  Chaldeans 
to  fall  upon  the  camels  and  the  servants,  to  carry  off 
the  first,  and  murder  the  last ;  he  made  lightning  flash 
upon  the  poor  sheep,  and  kill  them  all ;  and  he  blowed 
his  house  down  upon  his  poor  children,  and  buried 
them  all  in  the  ruins. 

Now  here  is  a  specimen  of  Satan's  good  will  to 
mankind,  and  what  havoc  the  Devil  would  make  in 
the  world,  if  he  might ;  and  here  is  a  testimony  too, 
that  he  could  not  do  this  without  leave ;  so  that  I  can- 
not but  be  of  the  opinion  he  has  some  limitations, 
some  bounds  set  to  his  natural  fury ;  a  certain  number 
of  links  in  his  chain,  which  he  cannot  exceed,  or,  in  a 
word,  that  he  cannot  go  a  foot  beyond  his  tether. 


80  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL. 

The  same  kind  of  evidence  we  have  in  the  gospel, 
(Matt.  viii.  31,)  where  Satan  could  not  so  much  as 
possess  the  filthiest  and  meanest  of  all  creatures,  the 
swine,  till  he  had  asked  leave  ;  and  that  still,  to  show 
his  good  will,  as  soon- as  he  had  gotten  leave,  he  hur- 
ried them  all  into  the  sea,  and  choked  them  ;  these,  I 
say,  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  I  am  not  willing  to 
say,  the  Devil  is  not  restrained  in  power.  But,  on  the 
other  side,  we  are  told  of  so  many  mischievous  things 
the  Devil  has  done  in  the  world,  by  virtue  of  his 
dominion  over  the  elements,  and  by  other  testimonies 
of  his  power,  that  I  do  not  know  what  to  think  of  it ; 
though,  upon  the  whole,  the  first  is  the  safest  opinion  ; 
for  if  we  should  believe  the  last,  we  might,  for  aught 
I  know,  be  brought,  like  the  American  Indians,  to 
worship  him  at  last,  that  he  may  do  us  no  harm. 

And  now  I  have  named  the  Indians  in  America,  I 
confess  it  would  go  a  great  way  in  favor  of  Satan's 
generosity,  as  well  as  in  testimony  of  his  power,  if  we 
might  believe  all  the  accounts  which  indeed  authors 
are  pretty  well  agreed  in  the  truth  of;  namely,  of  the 
mischiefs  the  Devil  does  in  those  countries,  where  his 
dominion  seems  to  be  established ;  how  he  uses  them 
when  they  deny  him  the  homage  he  claims  of  them  as 
his  due  ;  what  havoc  and  combustion  he  makes  among 
them ;  and  how  beneficent  he  is  (or  at  least  negative 
in  his  mischiefs)  when  they  appease  him  by  their 
hellish  sacrifices. 

Likewise  we  see  a  test  of  his  wicked  subtilty  in  his 
management  of  those  dark  nations,  when  he  was  more 
immediately  worshipped  by  them ;  namely,  the  mak- 
ing them  believe,  that  all  their  good  weather,  rains, 
dews,  and  kind  influences  upon  the  earth,  to  make  it 
fruitful,  were  from  him ;  whereas  they  really  were  the 
common  blessings  of  an  higher  hand,  and  came  not 
from  him,  (the  Devil,)  but  from  him  that  made  the 
Devil,  and  made  him  a  devil,  or  a  fallen  angel,  by  his 
curse. 

But  to  go  back  to  the  method  the  Devil  took  with 
the  first  of  mankind ;  it  is  plain  the  policy  of  hell  was 
right,  though  the  execution  of  the  resolves  they  took 
did  not  fully  answer  their  end  neither  :  for  Satan,  fas- 
tening upon  poor,  proud,  ridiculous  Mother  Eve,  as  I 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  81 

have  said  before,  made  presently  a  true  judgment  of 
her  capacities,  and  of  her  temper;  took  her  by  the 
right  handle,  and,  soothing  her  vanity,  (which  is,  to 
this  day.  the  softest  place  in  the  head  of  all  the  sex,) 
wheedled  her  out  of  her  senses  by  praising  her  beauty, 
and  promising  to  made  her  a  goddess. 

The  foolish  woman  yielded  presently,  and  that  we 
are  told  is  the  reason  why  the  same  method  so 
strangely  takes  with  all  her  posterity;  namely,  that 
you  are  sure  to  prevail  with  them,  if  you  can  but  once 
persuade  them  that  you  believe  they  are  witty  and 
handsome  ;  for  the  Devil,  you  may  observe,  never 
quits  any  hold  he  gets ;  and,  having  once  found  a  way 
into  the  heart,  always  takes  care  to  keep  the  door 
open,  that  any  of  his  agents  may  enter  after  him  with- 
out any  more  difficulty :  hence  the  same  argument, 
especially  the  last,  has  so  bewitching  an  influence  on 
the  sex,  that  they  rarely  deny  you  anything,  after  they 
are  but  weak  enough,  and  vain  enough,  to  accept  of 
the  praises  you  offer  them  on  that  head  :  on  the  other 
hand,  you  are  sure  they  never  forgive  you  the  unpar- 
donable crime  of  saying  they  are  ugly  or  disagreeable. 
It  is  suggested,  that  the  first  method  the  Devil  took 
to  insinuate  all  those  fine  things  into  Eve's  giddy 
head  was  by  creeping  close  to  her  one  night,  when  she 
was  asleep,  and  laying  his  mouth  to  her  ear,  whisper- 
ing all  the  fine  things  to  her,  which  he  knew  would 
set  her  fancy  on  tip-toe,  and  so  make  her  receive  them 
involuntarily  into  her  mind;  knowing  well  enough, 
that  when  she  had  formed  such  ideas  in  her  soul,  how- 
ever they  came  there,  she  would  never  be  quiet  till  she 
had  worked  them  up  to  some  extraordinary  thing  or 
other. 

It  was  evident  what  the  Devil  aimed  at,  namely, 
that  she  should  break  in  upon  the  command  of  God, 
and  so,  having  corrupted  herself,  bring  the  curse  upon 
herself  and  all  the  race,  as  God.  had  threatened :  but 
why  the  pride  of  Eve  should  be  so  easily  tickled  by  the 
notion  of  her  exquisite  beauty,  when  there  then  was 
no  prospect  of  the  use  or  want  of  those  charms,  that 
indeed  makes  a  kind  of  difficulty  here,  which  the 
learned  have  not  determined.  For, 

1.  If  she  had  been  as  ugly  as  the  Devil,  she  had  no- 


82  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

body  to  rival  her ;  so  that  she  need  not  fear  Adam 
should  leave  her,  and  get  another  mistress. 

2.  If  she  had  been  as  bright  and  as  beautiful  as  an 
angel,  she  had  no  other  admirer  but  poor  Adam ;  and 
he  could  have  no  room  to  be  jealous  of  her,  or  afraid 
she  should  cuckold  him  ;  so  that,  in  short,  Eve  had  no 
such  occasion  for  her  beauty,  nor  could  she  make  any 
use  of  it  to  a  bad  purpose,  or  to  a  good ;  and  therefore 
I  believe  the  Devil,  who  is  too  cunning  to  do  anything 
that  signifies  nothing,  rather  tempted  her  by  the  hope 
of  increasing  her  wit,  than  her  beauty. 

But  to  come  back  to  the  method  of  Satan's  tempting 
her;  namely,  by  whispering  to  her  in  her  sleep.  It 
was  a  cunning  trick,  that  is  the  truth  of  it ;  and  by 
that  means  he  certainly  set  her  head  a  madding  after 
deism,  and  to  be  made  a  goddess ;  and  then  backed  it 
by  the  subtle  talk  he  had  with  her  afterwards. 

I  am  the  more  particular  upon  this  part,  because, 
however  the  Devil  may  have  been  the  first  that  ever 
practised  it,  yet  I  can  assure  him  the  experiment  has 
been  tried  upon  many  a  woman  since,  to  the  wheed- 
ling her  out  of  her  modesty,  as  well  as  her  simplicity ; 
and  the  cunning  men  tell  us  still,  that  if  you  can  come 
at  a  woman  when  she  is  in  a  deep  sleep,  and  whisper 
to  her  close  to  her  ear,  she  will  certainly  dream  of  the 
thing  you  say  to  her,  and  so  will  a  man  too. 

Well,  be  this  so  to  her  race  or  not,  it  was,  it  seems, 
so  to  her;  for  she  waked  with  her  head  filled  with 
pleasing  ideas,  and,  as  some  will  have  it,  unlawful 
desires ;  such  as,  to  be  sure,  she  had  never  entertained 
before.  These  are  supposed  to  be  fatally  infused  in 
her  dream,  and  suggested  to  her  waking  soul,  when 
the  organ  ear  which  conveyed  them  was  dozed  and 
insensible ;  strange  fate  of  sleeping  in  paradise  !  that 
whereas  we  have  notice  but  of  two  sleeps  there,  that 
in  one  a  woman  should  go  out  of  him,  and  in  the  other 
the  Devil  should  come  into  her. 

Certainly,  when  Satan  first  made  the  attempt  upon 
Eve,  he  did  not  think  he  should  have  so  easily  con- 
quered her,  or  have  brought  his  business  about  so 
soon ;  the  Devil  himself  could  not  have  imagined  she 
should  have  been  so  soon  brought  to  forget  the  com- 
mand given,  or  at  least  who  gave  it,  and  have  ven- 


THE   HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL.  83 

tured  to  transgress  against  him.  and  made  her  forget, 
that  God  had  told  her,  it  should  be  death  to  her  to 
touch  it ;  and,  above  all,  that  she  should  aspire  to  be 
as  wise  as  him,  who  was  so  ignorant  before,  as  to 
believe  it  was  for  fear  of  her  being  like  himself,  that 
he  had  forbid  it  her. 

Well  might  she  be  said  to  be  the  weaker  vessel, 
though  Adam  himself  had  little  enough  to  say  for  his 
being  the  stronger  of  the  two,  when  he  was  over-per- 
suaded (if  it  were  done  by  persuasion,)  by  his  wife  to 
the  same  thing. 

And  mark  how  wise  they  were  after  they  had  eaten, 
and  what  fools  they  both  acted  like,  even  to  one 
another  ;  nay,  even  all  the  knowledge  they  attained  to 
by  it,  was,  for  aught  I  see,  only  to  know  that  they 
were  fools,  and  to  be  sensible  both  of  sin  and  shame ; 
and  see  how  simply  they  acted,  I  say,  upon  their  hav- 
ing committed  the  crime,  and  being  detected  in  it : 

"View  them  to-day  conversing  with  their  God, 
His  image  both  enjoyed  and  understood  ; 
To-morrow  skulking  with  a  sordid  flight, 
Among  the  bushes,  from  the  Infinite, 
As  if  that  power  was  blind,  which  gave  them  sight ; 
With  senseless  labor  tagging  fig-leaf  vests, 
To  hide  their  bodies  from  the  sight  of  beasts. 

Hark  !  how  the  fool  pleads  faint,  for  forfeit  life 
First  he  reproaches  heaven,  and  then  his  wife  : 
'  The  woman  which  thou  gavest,'  as  if  the  gift 
Could  rob  him  of  the  little  reason  left ; 
A  weak  pretence  to  shift  his  early  crime, 
As  if  accusing  her  would  excuse  him  ; 
But  thus  encroaching  crime  dethrones  the  sense, 
And  intercepts  the  heavenly  influence  ; 
Debauches  reason,  makes  the  man  a  fool, 
And  turns  his  active  light  to  ridicule." 

It  must  be  confessed,  that  it  was  an  unaccountable 
degeneracy,  even  of  their  common  reasoning,  which 
Adam  and  Eve  both  fell  into  upon  the  first  committing 
the  offence  of  tasting  the  forbidden  fruit :  if  that  was 
their  being  made  as  gods,  it  made  but  a  poor  appear- 
ance in  its  first  coming,  to  hide  their  nakedness  when 
there  was  nobody  to  see  them,  and  cover  themselves 
among  the  bushes  from  their  Maker:  but  thus  it  was, 
and  this  the  Devil  had  brought  them  to ;  and  well 
might  he,  and  all  the  clan  of  hell,  as  Mr.  Milton  brings 


84  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

them  in,  laugh  and  triumph  over  the  man  after  the 
blow  was  given,  as  having  so  egregiously  abused  and 
deluded  them  both. 

But  here,  to  be  sure,  began  the  Devil's  new  king- 
dom ;  as  he  had  now  seduced  the  two  first  creatures, 
he  was  pretty  sure  of  success  upon  all  the  race ;  and 
therefore  prepared  to  attack  them  also,  as  soon  as  they 
came  on ;  nor  was  their  increasing  multitude  any  dis- 
couragement to  his  attempt,  but  just  the  contrary;  for 
he  had  agents  enough  to  employ,  if  every  man  and 
woman  that  should  be  born  was  to  want  a  devil  to 
wait  upon  them,  separately  and  singly  to  seduce 
them  ;  whereas  some  whole  nations  have  been  such 
willing  subjects  to  him,  that  one  of  his  seraphic  imps 
may,  for  aught  we  know,  have  been  enough  to  guide 
a  whole  country ;  the  people  being  entirely  subjected 
to  his  government  for  many  ages ;  as  in  America,  for 
example,  where  some  will  have  it,  that  he  conveyed 
the  first  inhabitants ;  at  least,  if  he  did  not,  we  do  not 
well  know  who  did,  or  how  they  got  thither. 

And  how  came  all  the  communication  to  be  so 
entirely  cut  off  between  the  nations  of  Europe  and 
Africa,  from  whence  America  must  certainly  have 
been  peopled,  or  else  the  Devil  must  have  done  it 
indeed  ?  I  say,  how  came  the  communication  to  be 
entirely  cut  off  between  them,  that  except  the  time, 
whenever  it  was,  that  people  did  at  first  reach  from 
one  to  the  other,  none  ever  came  back  to  give  their 
friends  any  account  of  their  success,  or  invite  them  to 
follow  ?  Nor  did  they  hear  of  one  another  afterwards, 
as  we  have  reason  to  think.  Did  Satan  politically 
keep  them  thus  asunder,  lest  news  from  heaven  should 
reach  them,  and  so  they  should  be  recovered  out  of 
his  government?  We  cannot  tell  how  to  give  any 
other  rational  account  of  it,  that  a  nation,  nay,  a 
quarter  of  the  world,  or,  as  some  will  have  it  to  be, 
half  the  globe,  should  be  peopled  from  Europe  or 
Africa,  or  both,  and  nobody  ever  go  after  them,  or 
come  back  from  them,  in  above  three  thousand  years 
after. 

Nay,  that  those  countries  should  be  peopled  when 
there  was  no  navigation  in  use  in  these  parts  of  the 
world,  no  ships  made  that  could  carry  provisions 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  85 

enough  to  support  the  people  that  sailed  in  them,  but 
that  they  must  have  been  starved  to  death  before  they 
could  reach  the  shore  of  America  ;  the  ferry  from 
Europe  or  Africa  in  any  part,  (which  we  have  known 
navigation  to  be  practised  in,)  being  at  least  a  thou- 
sand miles,  and  in  most  places  much  more. 

But  as  to  the  Americans,  let  the  Devil  and  them 
alone  to  account  for  their  coming  thither;  this  we  are 
certain  of,  that  we  knew  nothing  of  them  for  a  many 
hundred  years ;  and  when  we  did,  when  the  discovery 
was  made,  they  that  went  from  hence  found  Satan  in 
a  full  and  quiet  possession  of  them,  ruling  them  with 
an  arbitrary  government,  particular  to  himself:  he  had 
led  them  into  a  blind  subjection  to  himself,  nay,  I 
might  call  it  devotion,  (for  it  was  all  of  religion  that 
was  to  be  found  among  them  ;)  worshipping  horrible 
idols  in  his  name,  to  whom  he  directed  human  sacri- 
fices continually  to  be  made,  till  he  deluged  the  coun- 
try with  blood,  arid  ripened  them  up  for  the  destruction 
that  followed,  from  the  invasion  of  the  Spaniards,  who 
he  knew  would  hurry  them  all  out  of  the  world  as  fast 
as  he  (the  Devil)  himself  could  desire  of  them. 

But  to  go  back  a  little  to  the  original  of  things.  It 
is  evident  that  Satan  has  made  a  much  better  market 
of  mankind,  by  thus  subtly  attacking  them,  and  bring- 
ing them  to  break  with  their  Maker  as  he  had  done 
before  them,  than  he  could  have  done  by  fulminating 
upon  them  at  first,  and  sending  them  all  out  of  the 
world  at  once  ;  for  now  he  has  peopled  his  own 
dominions  with  them  ;  and  though  a  remnant  are 
snatched,  as  it  were,  out  of  his  clutches,  by  the  agency 
of  invincible  grace,  of  which  I  am  not  to  discourse  in 
this  place,  yet  this  may  be  said  of  the  Devil,  without 
offence,  that  he  has  in  some  sense,  carried  his  point, 
and,  as  it  were,  forced  his  Maker  to  be  satisfied  with 
a  part  of  mankind,  and  the  least  part  too,  instead  of 
the  great  glory  he  would  have  brought  to  himself  by 
keeping  them  all  in  his  service. 

Mr.  Milton,  as  I  have  noted  above,  brings^  the 
Devil  and  all  hell  with  him,  making  a  feu  de  joie  for 
the  victory  Satan  obtained  over  one  silly  woman. 
Indeed  it  was  a  piece  of  success  greater  in  its  conse- 
quence than  in  the  immediate  appearance :  nor  was 
8 


00  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

the  conquest  so  complete  as  Satan  himself  imagined  to 
make,  since  the  promise  of  a  redemption  out  of  his 
hands,  which  was  immediately  made  to  the  man,  in 
behalf  of  himself  and  his  believing  posterity,  was  a 
great  disappointment  to  Satan,  and,  as  it  were, 
snatched  the  best  part  of  his  victory  out  of  his  hands. 

It  is  certain,  the  devils  knew  what  the  meaning  of 
that  promise  was,  and  who  was  to  be  the  seed  of  the 
woman,  namely,  the  incarnate  Son  of  God ;  and  that 
it  was  a  second  blow  to  the  whole  infernal  body;  but 
as  if  they  had  resolved  to  let.  that  alone,  Satan  went  on 
with  his  business ;  and  as  he  had  introduced  crime  into 
the  common  parent  of  mankind,  and  thereby  secured 
the  contamination  of  blood,  and  the  descent  or  propa- 
gation of  the  corrupt  seed,  he  had  nothing  to  do  but 
to  assist  nature  in  time  to  come,  to  carry  on  its  own 
rebellion,  and  act  itself  in  the  breasts  of  Eve's  tainted 
posterity ;  and  that  indeed  has  been  the  Devil's  busi- 
ness ever  since  his  first  victory  upon  the  kind,  to  this 
day. 

His  success  in  this  part  has  been  such,  that  we  see 
upon  innumerable  occasions  a  general  defection  has 
followed ;  a  kind  of  taint  upon  nature,  call  it  what 
you  will,  a  blast  upon  the  race  of  mankind;  and  were 
it  not  for  one  thing,  he  had  ruined  the  whole  family ; 

1  say,  were  it  not  for  one  thing,  namely,  a  selected 
company  or  number,  which  his  Maker  has  resolved  he 
shall  not  be  able  to  corrupt,  or,  if  he  does,  the  sending 
the  promised  seed  shall  recover  back  again  from  him, 
by  the  power  of  irresistible  grace ;  which  number  thus 
selected  or  elected,  call  it  which  we  will,  are  still  to 
supply  the  vacancies  in  heaven,  which  Satan's  defec- 
tion has  left  open  ;  and  what  was  before  filled  up  with 
created  seraphs,  is  now  to  be  restored   by  recovered 
saints,   by  whom    infinite   glory  is  to  accrue   to   the 
kingdom  of  the  Redeemer. 

This  glorious  establishment  has  robbed  Satan  of  all 
the  jov  of  his  victory,  and  left  him  just  where  he  was, 
defeareh  and  disappointed  ;  nor  does  the  possession  of 
all  the  myriads  of  the  sons  of  perdition,  who  yet  some 
are  of  the  opinion  will  be  snatched  from  him  too  at 
last ;  I  say,  the  possession  of  all  these  makes  no 
amends  to  him :  for  he  is  such  a  devil  in  his  nature, 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 


that  the  envy  at  those  he  cannot  seduce,  eats  out  all 
the  satisfaction  of  the  mischief  he  has  done  in  seduc- 
ing all  the  rest ;  hut  I  must  not  preach,  so  I  return 
to  things  as  much  needful  to  know,  though  less 
solemn. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Of  the  progress  of  Satan  in  carrying  on  his  conquest 
over  mankind,  from  the  fall  of  Eve  to  the  Deluge. 

I  DOUBT,  if  the  Devil  was  asked  the  question  plainly, 
he  would  confess,  that  after  he  had  conquered  Eve 
by  his  own  wicked  contrivance,  and  then  by  her 
assistance  had  brought  Adam  too  (like  a  fool  as  he 
was,)  into  the  same  gulf  of  misery,  he  thought  he  had 
done  his  work,  compassed  the  whole  race,  that  they 
were  now  his  own,  and  that  he  had  put  an  end  to  the 
grand  design  of  their  creation  ;  namely,  of  peopling 
heaven  with  a  new  angelic  race  of  souls,  who,  when 
glorified,  should  make  up  the  defection  of  the  host  of 
hell,  that  had  been  expunged  by  their  crime ;  in  a 
word,  that  he  had  gotten  a  better  conquest  than  if  he 
had  destroyed  them  all. 

But,  in  the  midst  of  his  conquest,  he  found  a  check 
put  to  the  advantages  he  expected  to  reap  from  his 
victory,  by  the  immediate  promise  of  grace  to  a  part 
of  the  posterity  of  Adam,  who,  notwithstanding  the 
fall,  were  to  be  purchased  by  the  Messiah,  and 
snatched  out  of  his  (Satan's)  hands,  and  over  whom 
he  could  make  no  final  conquest;  so  that  his  power 
met  with  a  new  limitation,  and  that  such,  as  indeed 
fully  disappointed  him  in  the  main  thing  he  aimed  at; 
namely,  preventing  the  beatitudes  of  mankind  ;  which 
were  thus  secured  ;  (and  what  if  the  numbers  of  man- 
kind were  upon  this  account  increased  in  such  a  man- 
ner, that  the  selected  number  should,  by  length  of 
time,  amount  to  just  as  many  as  the  whole  race,  had 
they  not  fallen,  would  have  amounted  to  in  all  ?)  And 
thus,  indeed,  the  world  may  be  said  to  be  upheld  and 
continued  for  the  sake  of  those  few,  since,  till  their 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

number  can  be  completed,  the  creation  cannot  fall,  any 
more  than  that  without  them,  or  but  for  them,  it  would 
not  have  stood. 

Bat  leaving  this  speculation,  and  not  having  inquir- 
ed of  Satan  what  he  has  to  say  on  that  subject,  let  us 
go  back  to  the  antediluvian  world.  The  Devil,  to  be 
sure,  gained  his  point  upon  Eve,  and  in  her  upon  all 
her  race  :  he  drew  her  into  sin;  got  her  turned  out  of 
paradise,  and  the  man  with  her :  the  next  thing  was  to 
go  to  work  with  her  posterity,  and  particularly  with 
her  two  sons,  Cain  and  Abel. 

Adam  having,  notwithstanding  his  fall,  repented 
very  sincerely  of  his  sin,  received  the  promise  of  re- 
demption and  pardon,  with  an  humble,  but  believing 
heart ;  charity  bids  us  suppose  that  he  led  a  very 
religious  and  sober  life  ever  after ;  arid,  especially  in 
the  first  part  of  his  time,  that  he  brought  up  his  chil- 
dren very  soberly,  and  gave  them  all  the  necessary 
advantages  of  a  religious  education,  and  a  good  intro- 
duction into  the  world,  that  he  was  capable  of;  and 
that  Eve  likewise  assisted  to  both  in  her  place  and 
degree. 

Their  two  eldest  sons,  Cain  and  Abel,  the  one  heir 
apparent  to  the  patriarchal  empire,  and  the  other  heir 
presumptive,  I  suppose  also,  lived  very  sober  and 
religious  lives  ;  and  as  the  principles  of  natural  religion 
dictated  an  homage  and  subjection  due  to  the  Almighty 
Maker,  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  mercies,  and  a 
recognition  of  their  obedience ;  so  the  received  usage 
of  religion  dictating,  at  that  time,  that  this  homage 
was  to  be  paid  by  a  sacrifice,  they  either  of  them 
brought  a  free-will  offering  to  be  dedicated  to  God 
respectively  for  themselves  and  families. 

How  it  was,  and  for  what  reason,  that  God  had 
respect  to  the  offering  of  Abel,  which,  the  learned  say, 
was  a  lamb  of  the  firstlings  of  the  flock,  and  did  not 
give  any  testimony  of  the  like  respect  to  Cain,  and  his 
offering,  which  was  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth,  the 
offerings  being  equally  suited  to  the  respective  employ- 
ment of  the  men,  that  is  not  my  present  business;  but 
this  we  find  made  heart-burnings,  and  raised  envy  and 
jealousy  in  the  mind  of  Cain;  and  at  that  door  the 
Devil  immediately  entered  ;  for  he,  who,  from  the 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  89 

beginning,  was  very  diligent  in  his  way,  never  slipped 
any  opportunity,  or  missed  any  advantages,  that  the 
circumstances  of  mankind  offered  him  to  do  mischief. 

What  shape  or  appearance  the  Devil  took  up  to 
enter  into  a  conversation  with  Cain  upon  the  subject, 
that  authors  do  not  take  upon  them  to  determine ;  but 
it  is  generally  supposed  he  personated  some  of  bain's 
sons  or  grandsons  to  begin  the  discourse,  who  attacked 
their  father,  or  perhaps  grandfather,  upon  this  occa- 
sion, in  the  following  manner,  or  to  that  purpose : 

D.  Sir,  I  perceive  your  majesty  (for  the  first  race 
were  certainly  all  monarchs  as  great  as  kings,  to  their 
immediate  posterity)  to  be  greatly  disturbed  of  late  ; 
your  countenance  is  changed,  your  noble  cheerfulness, 
the  glories  of  your  face,  are  strangely  sunk  and  gone, 
and  you  are  not  the  man  you  used  to  be.  Please  your 
majesty  to  communicate  your  griefs  to  us  your  chil- 
dren ;  you  may  be  sure,  that,  if  it  be  possible,  we 
would  procure  you  relief,  and  restore  your  delights, 
the  loss  of  which,  if  thus  you  go  on  to  subject  yourself 
to  too  much  melancholy,  will  be  very  hurtful  to  you, 
and,  in  the  end,  destroy  you. 

Cain.  It  is  very  kind,  my  dear  children,  to  show 
your  respect  thus  to  your  true  progenitor,  and  to  offer 
your  assistance.  I  confess,  as  you  say.  my  mind  is 
oppressed  and  displeased  ;  but,  though  it  is  very  heavy, 
yet  I  know  not  which  way  to  look  for  relief;  for  the 
distemper  is  above  our  reach,  no  cure  can  be  found  for 
it  on  earth. 

D.  Do  not  say  so,  sir :  there  can  be  no  disease  sure 
on  earth,  but  may  be  cured  on  earth ;  if  it  be  a  mental 
evil,  we  have  heard  that  your  great  ancestor,  the  first 
father  of  us  all,  who  lives  still  on  the  great  Western 
Plains  towards  the  Sea,  is  the  oracle  to  which  all  his 
children  fly  for  direction  in  such  cases  as  are  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  ordinary  understanding  of  mankind  ; 
please  you  to  give  leave,  we  will  take  a  journey  to 
him,  and,  representing  your  case  to  him,  we  will  hear 
his  advice,  and  bring  it  to  you  with  all  speed,  for  the 
ease  of  your  mind. 

Cain.  I  know  not  whether  he  can  reach  my  case 
or  no. 

D.  Doubtless  he  may  ;  and.  if  not.  the  labor  of  our 
8* 


90  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

journey  is  nothing,  when  placed  in  competition  with 
the  ease  of  your  mind;  it  is  but  a  few  days'  travel 
lost ;  and  you  will  not  be  the  worse,  if  we  fail  of  the 
desired  success. 

Cain.  The  offer  is  filial,  and  I  accept  your  affec- 
tionate concern  for  me,  with  a  just  sense  of  an  obliged 
parent;  go  then,  and  my  blessing  be  upon  you.  But, 
alas !  why  do  I  bless?  Can  he  bless  whom  God  has 
not  blessed? 

D.  O  !  sir,  do  not  say  so ;  has  not  God  blessed  you? 
are  you  not  the  second  sovereign  of  the  earth  ?  and 
does  he  not  converse  with  you  face  to  face  ?  are  noj 
you  the  oracle  to  all  your  growing  posterity,  and,  next 
after  his  Sovereign  Imperial  Majesty  Lord  Adam, 
patriarch  of  the  world? 

Cain.  But  has  not  God  rejected  me,  and  refused  to 
converse  any  more  with  me,  while  he  daily  favors  and 
countenances  my  younger  brother,  Abel,  as  if  he  re- 
solved to  set  him  up  to  rule  over  me? 

D.  No,  sir,  that  cannot  be,  you  cannot  be  disturbed 
at  such  a  thing;  is  not  the  right  of  sovereignty  yours 
by  primogeniture?  Can  God  himself  take  that  away, 
when  it  is  once  given?  Are  you  not  Lord  Adam's 
eldest  son  ?  are  you  not  the  first-born  glory  of  the  cre- 
ation? and  does  not  the  government  descend  to  you  by 
the  divine  right  of  birth  and  blood? 

Cain.  But  what  does  all  that  signify  to  me,  while 
God  appears  to  favor  and  caress  my  younger  brother, 
and  to  shine  upon  him,  while  a  black  dejection,  and 
token  of  displeasure,  surround  me  every  day,  and  he 
does  not  appear  to  me  as  he  used  to  do? 

D.  And  what  need  your  majesty  be  concerned  at 
that,  if  it  be  so  ?  if  he  does  not  appear  pleased,  you 
have  the  whole  world  to  enjoy  yourself  in,  and  all 
your  numerous  and  rising  posterity  adore  and  honor 
you  ;  what  need  those  remote  things  be  any  disturb- 
ance to  you  ? 

Cain.  How  !  my  children,  not  the  favor  of  God  be 
valued  !  yes,  yes,  in  his  favor  is  life;  what  can  all  the 
world  avail  without  the  smiles  and  countenance  of 
him  that  made  it? 

D.  Doubtless,  sir,  he  that  made  the  world,  and 
placed  you  at  the  head  of  it  all,  to  govern  and  direct 


THE   H1STOKY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  91 

it,  has  made  it  agreeable ;  and  it  is  able  to  give  you  a 
full  satisfaction  and  enjoyment,  if  you  please  to  con- 
sider it  well,  though  you  were  never  to  converse  with 
him  all  the  while  you  live  in  it. 

Cain.  You  are  quite  wrong  there,  my  children, 
quite  wrong. 

D.  But  do  you  not,  great  sir,  see  all  your  children 
as  well  as  us,  rejoicing  in  the  plenty  of  all  things  ?  and 
are  they  not  completely  happy,  and  yet  they  know 
little  of  this  great  God'?  He  seldom  converses  among 
us  ;  we  hear  of  him  indeed  by  your  sage  advices,  and 
we  bring  our  offerings  to  you  for  him,  as  you  direct  ; 
and  when  that 's  done,  we  enjoy  whatever  our  hearts 
desire ;  and  so  doubtless  may  you  in  an  abundant 
manner,  if  you  please. 

Cain.  But  your  felicity  is  wrong  placed  then,  or 
you  suppose  that  God  is  pleased  and  satisfied  in  that 
your  offerings  are  brought  to  me ;  but  what  would  you 
say,  if  you  knew  that  God  is  displeased'?  that  he  does 
not  accept  your  offerings  ?  that  when  I  sacrificed  to 
him  in  behalf  of  you  all,  he  rejected  my  offerings, 
though  I  brought  a  princely  gift,  being  of  the  finest  of 
the  wheat,  the  choicest  and  earliest  fruits,  and  the 
sweetest  of  the  oil,  an  offering  suited  to  the  Giver  of 
them  all  ? 

D.  But  if  you  offered  them,  sir,  how  are  you  sure 
they  were  not  accepted  ? 

Cain.  Yes,  yes,  I  am  sure  ;  did  not  my  brother 
Abel  offer,  at  the  same  time,  a  lamb  of  his  flock?  for 
he,  you  know,  delights  in  cattle,  and  covers  the  moun- 
tains with  his  herds.  Over  him,  all  the  while  he  was 
sacrificing,  a  bright  emanation  shone  cheering  and  en- 
livening, a  pledge  of  favor;  and  light  ambient  flames 
played  hovering  in  the  lower  air,  as  if  attending  his 
sacrifice  ;  and,  when  ready  prepared,  immediately 
descended,  and  burnt  up  the  flesh,  a  sweet  odoriferous 
savor  ascending  to  him,  who  thus  testified  his  accept- 
ance ;  whereas,  over  my  head,  a  black  cloud,  misty, 
and  distilling  vapor,  hung  dripping  upon  the  humble 
altar  I  had  raised,  and,  wetting  the  finest  and  choicest 
things  I  had  prepared,  spoiled  and  defaced  them ;  the 
wood,  unapt  to  burn  by  the  moisture  which  fell,  scarce 
received  the  fire  I  brought  to  kindle  it ;  and,  even  then, 


92  THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

rather  smothered  and  choked,  than  kindled  into  a 
flame;  in  a  word,  it  went  quite  out,  without  consum- 
ing what  was  brought  to  be  offered  up. 

D.  Let  not  our  truly  reverenced  lord  and  father  be 
disquited  at  all  this;  if  he  accepts  not  what  you  bring, 
you  are  discharged  of  the  debt,  and  need  bring  no 
more;  nor  have  the  trouble  of  such  labored  collections 
of  rarities  any  more ;  when  he  thinks  fit  to  require  it 
again,  you  will  have  notice,  no  question,  and  then  it, 
being  called  for,  will  be  accepted,  or  else  why  should 
it  be  required  ? 

Cain.  That  may  indeed  be  the  case,  nor  do  I  think 
of  attempting  any  more  to  bring  an  offering;  for  I 
rather  take  it,  that  I  am  forbidden  for  the  present ;  but 
then,  what  is  it  that  my  younger  brother  triumphs  in  ? 
and  how  am  I  insulted,  in  that  he  and  his  house  are 
all  joy  and  triumph,  as  if  they  had  some  great  advan- 
tage over  me,  in  that  their  offering  was  accepted  when 
mine  was  not? 

D.  Does  he  triumph  over  your  majesty,  our  lord 
and  sovereign  ?  Give  us  but  your  order,  and  we  will 
go  and  pull  him  and  all  his  generation  in  pieces  ;  for 
to  triumph  over  you,  who  are  his  elder  brother,  is  an 
horrid  rebellion  and  treason,  arid  he  ought  to  be  ex- 
pelled the  society  of  mankind. 

Cain.  I  think  so  too,  indeed;  however,  my  dear 
children,  and  faithful  subjects,  though  I  accept  your 
offer  of  duty  and  service,  yet  I  will  consider  very  well, 
before  I  take  up  arms  against  my  brother ;  besides,  our 
sovereign  father,  and  patriarchal  lord,  Adam,  being  yet 
alive,  it  is  not  in  my  right  to  act  offensively  without 
his  command. 

D.  We  are  ready  therefore  to  carry  your  petition  to 
him,  and  doubt  not  to  obtain  his  license  and  commis- 
sion too,  to  impower  you  to  do  yourself  justice  upon 
your  younger  brother ;  who,  being  your  vassal,  or  at 
least  inferior,  as  he  is  junior  in  birth,  insults  you  upon 
the  fancied  opinion  of  having  a  larger  share  in  the 
Divine  favor,  and  receiving  a  blessing  on  his  sacrifices, 
on  pretence  of  the  same  favor  being  denied  you. 

Cain.  I  am  content.  Go,  then,  and  give  a  just  ac- 
count of  the  state  of  our  affairs. 

D.    We  shall  soon  return  with  the  agreeable  answer ; 


THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  93 

let  not  our  lord  and  father  continue  sad  and  dejected, 
but  depend  upon  a  speedy  relief,  by  the  assistance  of 
thy  numerous  issue,  all  devoted  to  thy  interest  and 
felicity. 

Cain.  My  blessing  be  with  you  in  your  way,  and 
give  you  a  favorable  reception  at  the  venerable  tent  of 
our  universal  lord  and  father. 

.  Note.  Here  the  cursed  race  being  fully  given  up  to 
the  direction  of  the  evil  spirit,  which  so  early  possessed 
them,  and  swelling  with  rage  at  the  innocent  Abel, 
and  his  whole  family,  they  resolved  upon  forming  a 
most  wicked  and  detestable  lie,  to  bring  about  the 
advice  which  they  had  already  given  their  father  Cain 
a  touch  of;  and  to  pretend,  that  Adam,  being  justly 
provoked  at  the  imdutiful  behavior  of  Abel,  had  given 
Cain  a  commission  to  chastise  him,  and  by  force  to 
cut  him  off,  and  all  his  family,  as  guilty  of  rebellion 
and  pride. 

Filled  with  this  mischievous  and  bloody  resolution, 
they  came  back  to  their  father  Cain,  after  staying  a 
few  days,  such  as  were  sufficient  to  make  Cain  believe 
they  had  been  at  the  spacious  plains,  where  Adam 
dwelt ;  the  same  which  are  now  called  the  blessed 
Valleys,  or  the  Plains  of  Mecca  in  Arabia  Felix,  near 
the  banks  of  the  Red  Sea. 

Note  here  also,  that  Cain  having  received  a  wicked 
hint  from  these  men,  his  children  and  subjects,  as 
before,  intimating  that  Abel  had  broken  the  laws  of 
primogeniture  in  his  behavior  towards  him  (Cain ;) 
and  that  he  might  be  justly  punished  for  it ;  Satan, 
that  cunning  manager  of  all  our  wayward  passions, 
fanned  the  fire  of  envy  and  jealousy  with  his  utmost 
skill  all  the  while  his  other  agents  were  absent;  and 
by  the  time  they  came  back  had  blown  it  up  into  such 
an  heat  of  fury  and  rage,  that  it  wanted  nothing  but 
air  to  make  it  bum  out,  as  it  soon  afterwards  did  in  a 
furious  flame  of  wrath  and  revenge,  even  to  blood  and 
destruction. 

Just  in  the  very  critical  moment,  while  things  stood 
thus  with  Cain,  Satan  brings  in  his  wicked  instruments, 
as  if  just  arrived  with  the  return  of  his  message  from 
Adam,  at  whose  court  they  had  been  for  orders ;  and 
thus  they,  that  is,  the  Devil  assuming  to  speak  by 


94  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

them,  approach  their  father  with  an  air  of  solemn,  but 
cheerful  satisfaction  at  the  success  of  their  embassy. 

D.  Hail,  sovereign,  reverend,  patriarchal  lord  !  we 
come  with  joy  to  render  thee  an  account  of  the  suc- 
cesss  of  our  message. 

Cain.  Have  you  then  seen  the  venerable  tents  where 
dwell  the  heaven-born,  the  angelic  pair,  to  whom  all 
human  reverence  highly  due,  is  and  ought  always  to 
be  humbly  paid? 

D.    We  have. 

Cain.  Did  you,  together  with  my  grand  request,  a 
just  and  humble  homage  for  me  pay,  to  the  great  sire 
and  mother  of  mankind  1 

D.    We  did. 

Cain.  Did  you  in  humble  language  represent  the 
griefs  and  anguish  which  oppress  my  soul? 

D.    We  did,  and  back  their  blessing  to  thee  bring. 

Cain.  I  hope,  with  humblest  signs  of  filial  duty, 
you  took  it  for  me  on  your  bending  knees  ? 

D.  W"e  did,  and  had  our  share ;  the  patriarch  lifting 
up  his  hands  to  heaven,  expressed  his  joy  to  see  his 
spreading  race,  and  blessed  us  all. 

Cain.  Did  you  my  solemn  message  too  deliver,  my 
injuries  impartially  lay  down,  and  due  assistance  and 
direction  crave? 

D.   We  did. 

Cain.  What  spoke  the  oracle  ?  he  is  God  to  me ; 
what  just  commands  do  ye  bring?  what  is  to  be  done? 
Am  I  to  bear  the  insulting  junior's  rage?  and  meekly 
suffer  what  unjustly  he,  affronting  primogeniture,  arid 
laws  of  God  and  man,  imposes  by  his  pride  iinsnffer- 
able  ?  Am  I  to  be  crushed,  and  be  no  more  the  first- 
born son  on  earth,  but  bow  and  kneel  to  him? 

D.  Forbid  it,  heaven !  as  Adam  too  forbids,  who 
with  a  justice  godlike,  and  peculiar  to  injured  parents, 
Abel's  pride  resents,  and  gives  his  high  command  to 
thee  to  punish. 

Cain.  To  punish?  say  you,  did  he  use  the  word, 
the  very  word?  am  I  commissioned  then  to  punish 
Abel? 

D.  Not  Abel  only,  but  his  rebel  race,  as  they,  alike 
in  crime,  alike  are  joined  in  punishment. 

Cain.    The  race  indeed  have  shared  the  merit  with 


THE   HISTORY    OE    THE    DEVIL.  95 

him;  how  did  they  all  insult,  and  with  a  shout  of 
triumph  mock  my  sorrow,  when  they  saw  me  from  my 
sacrifice  dejected  come,  as  if  my  disappointment  was 
their  joy? 

D.  This  too  the  venerable  prince  resents ;  and  to 
preserve  the  race  in  bounds  of  law  subordinate  arid 
limited  to  duty,  commands  that  this  first,  breach  be  not 
passed  by,  lest  the  precedent  upon  record  stand  to 
future  times  to  encourage  like  rebellion. 

Cain.    And  is  it  then  my  sovereign  parent's  will  ? 

D.  It  is  his  will,  that  thou  his  eldest  son,  his  image, 
his  beloved,  should  be  maintained  in  all  the  rights  of 
sovereignty  derived  to  thee  from  him;  and  not  be  left 
exposed  to  injury,  and  power  usurped,  but  should 
do  thyself  justice  on  the  rebel  race. 

Cain.  And  sol  will;  Abel  shall  quickly  know  what 
it  is  to  trample  on  his  elder  brother  ;  shall  know  that 
he  is  thus  sentenced  by  his  father;  and  I  am  commis- 
sioned bat  to  execute  his  high  command,  his  sentence, 
which  is  God's;  and  that  he  falls  by  the  hand  of 
heavenly  justice. 

So  now  Satan  had  done  his  work,  he  had  deluded 
the  mother  to  a  breach  against  the  first  and  only  com- 
mand ;  he  had  drawn  Adam  into  the  same  snare ;  and 
now  he  brings  in  Cain  prompted  by  his  own  rage,  and 
deluded  by  his  (Satan's)  craft,  to  commit  murder,  nay, 
a  fratricide,  an  aggravated  murder. 

Upon  this  he  sends  out  Cain,  while  the  bloody  rage 
was  in  its  ferment,  and  wickedly  at  the  same  time, 
bringing  Abel,  innocent,  and  fearing  no  ill,  just  in 
his  way,  he  suggests  to  his  thoughts  such  words  as 
these : 

Look  you,  Cain,  see  how  divine  justice  concurs  with 
your  father's  righteous  sentence;  see,  there  is  thy 
brother  Abel  directed  by  Heaven  to  fall  into  thy  hands 
unarmed,  unguarded,  that  thou  mayst  do  thyself  jus- 
tice upon  him  without  fear;  see,  thou  mayst  kill  him; 
and,  if  thou  hast  a  mind  to  conceal  it,  no  eyes  can  see, 
nor  will  the  world  ever  know  it,  so  that  no  resentment 
or  revenge  upon  thee,  or  thy  posterity,  can  be  appre- 
hended, but  it  may  be  said  some  wild  beast  had  rent 
him ;  nor  will  any  one  suggest,  that  thou,  his  brother 
and  superior,  could  possibly  be  the  person. 


96  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Cain,  prepared  for  the  fact  by  his  former  avowed 
rage,  and  resolution  of  revenge,  was  so  much  the  less 
prepared  to  avoid  the  snare  thus  artfully  contrived  by 
the  master  of  all  subtlety,  the  Devil;  so  he  imme- 
diately runs  upon  his  brother  Abel,  and,  after  a  little 
unarmed  resistance,  the  innocent  poor  man,  expecting 
no  such  mischief,  was  conquered  and  murdered;  after 
which,  as  is  to  be  supposed,  the  exasperated  crew  of 
Cain's  outrageous  race  overrun  all  his  family  and 
household,  killing  man,  woman,  and  child. 

It  is  objected  here,  that  we  have  no  authority  in 
scripture  to  prove  this  part  of  the  story  ;  but  I  answer, 
it  is  not  likely  but  that  Abel,  as  well  as  Cain,  being  at 
man's  estate  long  before  this,  had  several  children  by 
their  own  sisters;  for  they  were  the  only  men  in  the 
world  who  were  allowed  the  marrying  their  own  sis- 
ters, there  being  no  other  women  then  in  the  world  ; 
and  as  we  never  read  of  any  of  Abel's  posterity,  it  is 
likewise  as  probable  they  were  all  murdered,  as  that 
they  should  kill  Abel  only,  whose  sons  might  imme- 
diately fall  upon  Cain  for  the  blood  of  their  father,  and 
so  the  world  have  been  involved  in  a  civil  war  as  soon 
as  there  were  two  families  in  it. 

But  be  it  so  or  not,  it  is  not  doubted  the  Devil 
wrought  with  Cain  in  the  horrid  murder,  or  he  had 
never  done  it ;  whether  it  was  directly,  or  by  agents, 
is  not  material,  nor  is  the  latter  unlikely  ;  and,  if  the 
latter,  then  there  is  no  improbability  in  the  story ;  for 
why  might  not  he  that  made  use  of  the  serpent  to  tempt 
Eve,  be  as  well  supposed  to  make  a  tool  of  some  of 
Cain's  sons  or  grandsons  to  prompt  him  in  the  wicked 
attempt  of  murdering  his  brother?  and  why  must  we 
be  obliged  to  bring  in  a  miracle,  or  an  apparition,  into 
the  story,  to  make  it  probable  that  the  Devil  had  any 
hand  in  it,  when  it  was  so  natural  to  a  degenerate  race 
to  act  in  such  a  manner? 

However  it  was,  arid  by  whatever  tool  the  Devil 
wrought,  it  is  certain  that  this  was  the  consequence, 
poor  Abel  was  butchered  ;  and  thus  the  Devil  made  a 
second  conquest  in  God's  creation  ;  for  Adam  was  now, 
as  may  be  said,  really  childless  ;  for  his  two  sons  were 
thus  far  lost,  Abel  was  killed,  and  Cain  was  curst,  and 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  97 

driven  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  his  race 
blasted  with  him. 

It  would  be  an  useful  inquiry  here,  and  worthy  our 
giving  an  account  of,  could  we  come  to  a  certainty  in 
it ;  namely,  what  was  the  mark  that  God  set  upon- 
Cain,  by  which  he  was  kept  from  being  fallen  upon  by 
Abel's  friends  or  relations?  but  as  this  does  not  belong 
to  the  Devil's  history,  and  it  was  God's  mark,  not  the 
Devil's,  -I  have  nothing  to  do  with  it  here. 

The  Devil  had  now  gained  his  point;  the  kingdom 
of  grace,  so  newly  erected,  had  been  as  it  were  extinct 
without  a  new  creation,  had  not  Adam  and  Eve  been 
alive,  and  had  not  Eve,  though  now  one  hundred  a^d 
thirty  years  of  age,  been  a  breeding  young  lady ;  for  we 
must  suppose  the  Tvomen,  in  that  state  of  longevity, 
bare  children  till  they  were  seven  or  eight,  hundred 
years  old.  This  teeming  of  Eve  peopled  not  the  world 
so  much  as  it  restored  the  blessed  race ;  for,  though 
Abel  was  killed,  Cain  had  a  numerous  offspring  pre- 
sently, which,  had  Seth  (Adam's  third  son)  never  been 
born,  would  soon  have  replenished  the  world  with 
people,  such  as  they  were ;  the  seed  of  a  murderer, 
cursed  of  God,  branded  with  a  mark  of  infamy,  and 
who  afterwards  fell  all  together  in  the  universal  ruin 
of  the  race  by  the  deluge. 

But  after  the  murder  of  Abel,  Adam  had  another 
son  born,  namely,  Seth,  the  father  of  Enos,  and  indeed 
the  father  of  the  holy  race ;  for  during  his  time  and 
his  son  Enos,  the  text  says,  that  men  began  to  call  on 
the  name  of  the  Lord ;  that  is  to  say,  they  began  to 
look  back  upon  Cain  and  his  wicked  race ;  and,  being 
convinced  of  the  wickedness  they  had  committed,  and 
led  their  whole  posterity  into,  they  began  to  sue  to 
Heaven  for  pardon  of  what  was  past,  and  to  lead  a 
new  sort  of  life. 

But  the  Devil  had  met  with  too  much  success  in  his 
first  attempts,  not  to  go  on  with  his  general  resolution 
of  debauching  the  minds  of  men,  and  Bringing  them  off 
from  God;  and  therefore,  as  he  kept  his  hold  upon 
Cain's  cursed  race,  embroiled  already  in  blood  and 
murder;  so  he  proceeded  with  his  degenerate  offspring, 
till,  in  a  word,  he  brought  both  the  holy  seed,  and  the 
degenerate  race,  to  join  in  one  universal  consent  of 
9 


98  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL> 

crime,  and  to  go  on  in  it  with  such  aggravating  cir- 
cumstances, as  that  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he  had 
made  man,  and  he  resolved  to  overwhelm  them  again 
with  a  general  destruction,  and  clear  the  world  of 
them. 

The  succession  of  blood  in  the  royal  original  line  of 
Adam  is  preserved  in  the  sacred  histories,  and  brought 
down  as  low  as  Noah  and  his  three  sons,  for  a  con- 
tinued series  of  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty  years,  say 
some,  sixteen  hundred  and  forty  say  others ;  in  which 
time  sin  spread  itself  so  generally  through  the  whole 
race,  and  the  sons  of  God,  so  the  scripture  calls  the 
rn^ii  of  the  righteous  seed,  the  progeny  of  Seth,  came 
in  unto  the  daughters  of  men,  that  is,  joined  them- 
selves to  the  cursed  race  of  Cain,  £(hd  married  promis- 
cuously with  them,  according  to  their  fancies,  the 
women,  it  seems,  bping  beautiful  and  tempting ;  and 
though  the  Devil  could  not  make  the  women  hand- 
some or  ugly  in  one  or  other  families,  yet  he  might 
work  up  the  gust  of  wicked  inclination  on  either  side, 
so  as  to  make  both  the  men  and  the  women  tempting 
and  agreeable  to  one  another,  where  they  ought  not 
to  have  been  so;  and  perhaps,  as  it  is  often  seen  to 
this  day,  the  more  tempting  for  being  under  legal 
restraint. 

It  is  objected  here,  that  we  do  not  find  in  the  scrip- 
ture, that  the  men  and  women  of  either  race  were  at 
that  time  forbidden  intermarrying  with  one  another ; 
and  it  is  true,  that  literally  it  is  not  forbid.  But  if  we 
did  not  search  rather  to  make  doubts  than  to  explain 
them,  we  might  suppose  it  was  forbidden  by  some  par- 
ticular command  at  that  time ;  seeing  we  may  rea- 
sonably allow  every  thing  to  be  forbidden,  which  they 
are  taxed  with  a  crime  in  committing;  and  as  the  sons 
of  God  taking  them  wives,  as  they  thought  fit  to 
choose,  though  from  among  the  daughters  of  the 
cursed  race,  is  there  charged  upon  them  as  a  general 
depravation,  an4  a  great  crime,  and  for  which  it  is 
said,  God  even  repented  that  he  had  made  them,  we 
need  go  no  further  to  satisfy  ourselves,  that  it  was 
certainly  forbidden. 

Satan,  no  doubt,  too,  had  a  hand  in  this  wicked- 
ness ;  for  as  it  was  his  business  to  prompt  men  to  do 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL.  99 

everything  which  God  had  prohibited,  so  the  reason 
given  why  the  men  of  those  days  did  this  thing  was, 
they  saw  the  daughters  of  men,  that  is,  of  the  wicked 
race,  or  forbidden  sort,  were  fair ;  he  tempted  them  by 
the  lust  of  the  eye ;  in  a  word  the  ladies  were  beau- 
tiful and  agreeable,  and  the  Devil  knew  how  to 
make  use  of  the  allurement ;  the  men  liked  and  took 
them  by  the  mere  direction  of  their  fancy  and  appe- 
tite ;  without  regarding  the  supreme  prohibition  :  They 
took  them  wives  of  all  which  they  chose,  or  such  as 
they  liked  to  choose. 

But  the  Jext  adds,  that  this  promiscuous  generation 
went  farther  than  the  mere  outward  crime  of  it ;  for  it 
showed  that  the  wickedness  of  the  heart  of  man  was 
great  before  God,  und  that  he  resented  it.  In  short, 
God  perceived  a  degeneracy  or  defect  of  virtue  had 
seized  upon  the  whole  race ;  that  there  was  a  general 
corruption  of  manners,  a  depravity  of  nature  upon 
them;  that  even  the  holy  seed  was  tainted  with  it ;  that 
the  Devil  had  broken  in  upon  them,  and  prevailed  to  a 
great  degree  ;  that  not  only  the  practice  of  the  age  was 
corrupt,  for  that  God  could  easily  have  restrained,  but 
that  the  very  heart  of  man  was  debauched,  his  desires 
wholly  vitiated,  and  his  senses  engaged  in  it;  so  that, 
in  a  word,  it  became  necessary  to  show  the  divine  dis- 
pleasure, not  in  the  ordinary  manner,  by  judgment  and 
reproofs  of  such  kind  as  usually  reclaim  men,  but  by  a 
general  destruction  to  sweep  them  away,  clear  the  earth 
of  them,  and  put  an  end  to  the  wickedness  at  once, 
removing  the  offence  and  the  offenders  all  together; 
this  is  signified  at  large,  Gen.  vi.  5.  "  God  saw  that 
the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  in  the  earth,  and 
that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart 
was  only  evil  continually."  And  again,  ver.  11,  12. 
"  The  earth  also  was  corrupt  before  God ;  and  the 
earth  was  filled  with  violence.  And  God  looked  upon 
the  earth,  and,  behold,  it  was  corrupt;  for  all  flesh 
had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth." 

It  must  be  confessed  it  was  a  strange  conquest  the 
Devil  had  made  in  the  antediluvian  world,  that  he 
had,  as  I  may  say.  brought  the  whole  race  of  man- 
kind into  a  general  revolt  from  God.  Noah  was  indeed 
a  preacher  of  righteousness,  and  he  had  preached  about 


100  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

five  hundred  years  to  as  little  purpose  as  most  of  the 
good  ministers  ever  did  ;  for  we  do  not  read  there  was 
one  man  converted  by  him,  or  at  least  not  one  of  them 
left;  for  that  at  the  deluge  there  was  either  none  of 
them  alive,  or  none  spared  but  Noah  and  his  three 
sons,  and  their  wives;  and  even  they  are  (it  is  evident) 
recorded,  not  so  much  to  be  saved  for  their  own  good- 
ness, but  because  they  were  his  sons  :  nay,  without 
breach  of  charity  we  may  conclude,  that  at  least  one 
went  to  the  Devil  even  of  those  three ;  namely,  Ham 
or  Cham,  for  triumphing  in  a  brutal  manner  over  his 
father's  drunkenness;  for  we  find  the  special  curse 
reached  to  him  and  his  posterity  for  many  ages;  and 
whether  it  went  no  farther  than  the  present  state  of 
life  with  them,  we  cannot  tell. 

We  will  suppose  now,  that  through  this  whole  fifteen 
hundred  years,  the  Devil,  having  so  effectually  de- 
bauched mankind,  had  advanced  his  infernal  kingdom 
to  a  prodigious  height ;  for  the  text  says,  the  whole  earth 
was  filled  with  violence  :  in  a  word,  blood,  murder, 
rape,  robbery,  oppression  and  injustice,  prevailed 
everywhere  ;  and  man,  like  the  wild  bear  in  the  forest, 
lived  by  prey,  biting  and  devouring  one  another. 

At  this  time  Noah  begins  to  preach  a  new  doctrine 
to  them ;  for  as  he  had  before  been  a  preacher  of 
righteousness,  now  he  becomes  a  preacher  of  ven- 
geance ;  first  he  tells  them  they  shall  be  all  over- 
whelmed with  a  deluge,  that  for  their  sins  God 
repented  they  were  made,  and  that  he  would  destroy 
them  all ;  adding,  that  to  prevent  the  ruin  of  himself 
and  family,  he  resolved  to  build  him  a  ship  to  have 
recourse  to  when  the  water  should  come  over  the  rest 
of  the  world. 

What  jesting,  what  scorn,  what  contempt,  did  this 
work  expose  the  good  old  man  to  for  above  one  hun- 
dred years?  for  so  long  the  work  was  building,  as 
ancient  authors  say.  Let  us  represent  to  ourselves  in 
the  most  lively  manner  how  the  witty  world  at  that 
time  behaved  to  poor  old  Noah ;  how  they  too*k  their 
evening  walks  to  see  what  he  was  doing,  and  passed 
their  judgment  upon  it,  and  upon  the  progress  of  it;  I 
say,  to  represent  this  to  ourselves,  we  need  go  no  far- 
ther than  to  our  own  witticisms  upon  religion,  and 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  101 

upon  the  most  solemn  mysteries  of  divine  worship; 
how  we  damn  the  serious  for  enthusiasts,  think  the 
grave  mad,  and  the  sober  melancholy ;  call  religion 
itself  flatus  and  hypo  ;  make  the  devout  ignorant,  the 
divine  mercenary,  and  the  whole  scheme  of  divinity  a 
frame  of  priestcraft :  and  thus  no  doubt  the  building 
an  ark  or  boat,  or  whatever  they  called  it,  to  float  over 
the  mountains,  and  dance  over  the  plains,  what  could 
it  be  but  a  religious  frenzy,  and  the  man  that  so  busied 
himself,  a  lunatic?  and  all  this  in  an  age  when  divine 
things  came  by  immediate  revelation  into  the  minds 
of  men  !  The  Devil  must  therefore  have  made  a 
strange  conquest  upon  mankind  to  obliterate  all  the 
reverence  which  but  a  little  before  was  so  strangely 
impressed  upon  them  concerning  their  Maker. 

This  was  certainly  the  height  of  the  Devil's  king- 
dom, and  we  shall  never  find  him  arrive  to  such  a 
pitch  again  ;  he  was  then  truly  and  literally  the  uni- 
versal monarch,  nay,  the  god  of  this  world;  and,  as 
all  tyrants  do,  he  governs  them  with  an  arbitrary, 
absolute  sway;  and  «had  not  God  thought  fit  to  give 
him  a  writ  of  ejectment,  and  afterwards  drown  him 
out  of  possession,  I  know  not  what  would  have  been 
the  case ;  he  might  have  kept  his  hold,  for  aught  I 
know,  till  the  seed  of  the  woman  came  to  bruise  his 
head,  that  is  to  say,  cripple  his  government,  dethrone 
him,  and  depose  his  power,  as  has  been  fulfilled  in  the 
Messiah. 

But  as  he  was,  I  say,  drowned  out  of  the  world,  his 
kingdom  for  the  present  was  at  an  end  ;  at  least,  if  he 
had  a  dominion,  he  had  no  subjects ;  and  as  the  cre- 
ation was  in  a  manner  renewed,  so  the  Devil  had  all 
his  work  to  do  over  again.  Unhappy  man  !  how  has 
he,  by  his  weak  resistance,  made  the  Devil's  recover- 
ing his  hold  too  easy  to  him,  and  given  him  all  the 
advantages,  except  as  before  excepted,  which  he  had 
before?  Now  whither  he  retired  in  the  mean  time, 
and  how  he  got  footing  again  after  Noah  and  his  fam- 
ily were  landed  upon  the  new  surface,  that  we  come 
next  to  inquire. 


102  THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Of  the  DeviVs  second  kingdom,  and  how  he  got  foot- 
ing in  the  renewed  world  by  his  victory  over  Noah 
and  his  race. 

THE  story  of  Noah,  his  building  the  ark,  his  em- 
barking himself  and  all  nature's  stock  for  a  new  world 
on  board  it,  the  long  voyage  they  took,  and  the  bad 
weather  they  met  with,  though  it  would  embellish  this 
work  very  well,  and  come  in  very  much  to  the  pur- 
pose in  this  place ;  yet  as  it  does  not  belong  to  the 
Devil's  story,  for  I  cannot  prove  what  some  suggest ; 
namely,  that  he  was  in  the  ark  among  the  rest;  I  say, 
for  that  reason  I  must  omit  it. 

And  now  having  mentioned  Satan's  being  in  the 
ark ;  as  I  say,  I  cannot  prove  it,  so  there  are,  I  think, 
some  good  reasons  to  believe  he  was  not  there  :  first, 
I  know  no  business  he  had  there ;  secondly,  we  read 
of  no  mischief  done  there ;  and  these  joined  together 
make  me  conclude  he  was  absent ;  the  last  I  chiefly 
insist  upon,  that  we  read  of  no  mischief  done  there ; 
which,  if  he  had  been  in  the  ark,  would  certainly  have 
happened ;  and  therefore  I  suppose  rather,  that  when 
he  saw  his  kingdom  dissolved,  his  subjects  all  ingulfed 
in  an  inevitable  ruin  and  desolation,  a  sight  suitable 
enough  to  him,  except  as  it  might  unking  him  for  a 
time  :  I  say,  when  he  saw  this,  he  took  care  to  speed 
himself  away  as  well  as  he  could,  and  make  his 
retreat  to  a  place  of  safety ;  where  that  was,  is  no 
more  difficult  to  us,  than  it  was  to  him. 

It  is  suggested,  that  as  he  is  prince  of  the  power  of 
the  air,  he  retired  only  into  that  region.  It  is  most 
rational  to  suppose  he  went  no  farther  on  many 
accounts,  of  which  I  shall  speak  by-and-by.  Here  he 
staid  hovering  in  the  earth's  atmosphere,  as  he  has 
often  done  since,  and  perhaps  now  does ;  or,  if  the 
atmosphere  of  this  globe  was  affected  by  the  indraught 
of  the  absorption,  as  some  think,  then  he  kept  himself 
upon  the  watch,  to  see  what  the  event  of  the  new 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL.  103 

phenomenon  would  be ;  and  this  watch,  wherever  it 
was,  I  doubt  not,  was  as  near  the  earth  as  he  could 
place  himself,  perhaps  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  meon ; 
or,  in  a  word,  the  next  place  of  retreat  he  could  find. 

From  hence  I  took  upon  me  to  insist,  that  Satan  has 
riot  a  more  certain  knowledge  of  events  than  we ;  I 
say,  he  has  not  a  more  certain  knowledge ;  that  he 
may  be  able  to  make  stronger  conjectures,  and  more 
rational  conclusions  from  that  he  sees,  I  will  not  deny ; 
and  that  which  he  most  outdoes  us  in  is,  that  he  sees 
more  to  conclude  from  than  we  can  ;  but  I  am  satisfied 
he  knows  nothing  of  futurity  more  than  we  can  see  by 
observation  and  inference ;  nor,  for  example,  did  he 
know  whether  God  would  re-people  the  world  any 
more  or  no. 

I  must  therefore  allow,  that  he  only  waited  to  see 
what  would  be  the  event  of  this  strange  eruption  of 
water ;  and  what  God  proposed  to  do  with  the  ark, 
and  all  that  was  in  it. 

Some  philosophers  tell  us,  besides  what  I  hinted 
above,  that  the  Devil  could  have  no  retreat  in  the 
earth's  atmosphere;  for  that  the  air  being  wholly  con- 
densed into  water,  and  having  continually  poured 
down  its  streams  to  deluge  the  earth,  that  body  was 
become  so  small,  and  had  suffered  such  convulsions, 
that  there  was  but  just  enough  air  left  to  surround  the 
water,  or  as  might  serve  by  its  pressure  to  preserve 
the  natural  position  of  things,  and  supply  the  creatures 
in  the  ark  with  a  part  to  breathe  in. 

The  atmosphere  indeed  might  suffer  some  strange 
and  unnatural  motions  at  that  time,  but  not  (I  believe) 
to  that  degree ;  however,  I  will  not  affirm,  that  there 
could  be  room  in  it,  or  is  now,  for  the  Devil,  much  less 
for  all  the  numberless  legions  of  Satan's  host ;  but  there 
was,  and  now  certainly  is,  sufficient  space  to  receive 
him,  and  a  sufficient  body  of  his  troops  for  the  business 
he  had  for  them  at  that  time,  and  that  is  enough  to 
the  purpose;  or  if  the  earth's  atmosphere  did  suffer 
any  particular  convulsion  on  that  occasion,  he  might 
make  his  retreat  to  the  atmosphere  of  the  rnoon,  or  of 
Mars,  or  of  Venus,  or  of  any  of  the  other  planets ;  or  to 
any  other  place ;  for  he  that,  is  prince  of  the  air  could 
not  want  retreats  in  such  a  case,  from  whence  he 


104 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


might  watch  for  the  issue  of  things ;  certainly  he  did 
not  go  far,  because  his  business  lay  here,  and  he  never 
goes* out  of  his  way  of  doing  mischief. 

In  particular,  his  more  than  ordinary  concern  was, 
to  see  what  would  become  of  the  ark.  He  was  wise 
enough,  doubtless,  to  see,  that  God.  who  had  directed 
its  making,  nay,  even  the  very  structure  of  it,  would 
certainly  take  care  of  it,  preserve  it  upon  the  water, 
and  bring  it  to  some  place  of  safety  or  other ;  though 
where  it  should  be,  the  Devil  with  all  his  cunning 
could  not  resolve,  whether  on  the  same  surface,  the 
waters  drawing  off,  or  in  any  other  created,  or  to  be 
created  place ;  and  this  state  of  uncertainty  beirf£  evi- 
dently his  case,  and  which  proves  his  ignorance  of 
futurity,  it  was  his  business,  I  say,  to  watch  with  the 
utmost  vigilance  for  the  event. 

If  the  ark  was,  (as  Mr.  Burnet  thinks,)  guided  by 
two  angels,  they  not  only  held  it  from  foundering,  or 
being  swallowed  up,  in  the  water,  but  certainly  kept 
the  waters  calm  about  it,  especially  when  the  Lord 
brought  a  strong  wind  to  blow  over  the  whole  globe, 
which,  by  the  way,  \v«as  the  firsthand,  I  suppose,  the 
only  universal  storm  that  ever  blew ;  for  to  be  sure,  it 
blew  over  the  whole  surface  at  once;  I  say,  if  it  was 
thus  guided,  to  be  sure  the  Devil  saw  it,  and  that  with 
envy  and  regret,  that  he  could  do  it  no  injury ;  for, 
doubtless,  had  it  been  in  the  Devil's  power,  as  God  had 
drowned  the  whole  race  of  man,  except  what  was  in 
the  ark,  he  would  have  taken  care  to  have  despatched 
them  too,  and  so  made  an  end  of  the  creation  at  once; 
but  either  he  was  not  empowered  to  go  to  the  ark,  or 
it  was  so  well  guarded  by  angels,  that  when  he  came 
near  it,  he  could  do  it  no  harm  :  so  it  rested  at  length, 
the  waters  abating,  on  the  mountains  of  Ararat  in  Ar- 
menia, or  somewhere  else  that  way,  and  where  they 
say  a  piece  of  the  keel  is  remaining  to  this  day ;  of 

which,  however,  with  Dr. ,  I  say,  I  believe  not 

one  word. 

The  ark  being  safe  landed,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe 
Noah  prepared  to  go  on  shore,  as  the  seamen  call  it, 
as  soon  as  the  dry  land  began  to  appear  ;  and  here  you 
must  allow  me  to  suppose  Satan,  though  himself 
clothed  with  a  cloud,  so  as  not  to  be  seen,  came 


THE   HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL.  105 

immediately,  and,  perching  on  the  roof,  saw  all  the 
heaven-kept  household  safely  landed,  and  all  the  host 
of  living  creatures  dispersing  themselves  down  the 
sides  of  the  mountains,  as  the  search  of  their  food,  or 
other  proper  occasions,  directed  them. 

This  sight  was  enough;  Satan  was  at  no  loss  to 
conclude  from  hence,  that  the  design  of  God  was  to 
repeople  the  world  by  the  way  of  ordinary  generation, 
from  the  posterity  of  these  eight  persons,  without  cre- 
ating any  new  species. 

Very  well,  says  the  Devil ;  then  my  advantage  over 
them,  by  the  snare  I  laid  for  poor  Eve,  is  good  still ; 
and  I  am  now  just  where  I  was  after  Adam's  expul- 
sion from  the  garden,  and  when  I  had  Cain,  and  his 
race,  to  go  to  work  with ;  for  here  is  the  old  expunged 
corrupted  race  still :  as  Cain  was  the  object  then,  so 
Noah  is  my  man  now ;  and  if  I  do  not  master  him  one 
way  or  another,  I  am  mistaken  in  my  mark.  Pardon, 
me  for  making  a  speech  for  the  Devil. 

Noah,  big  with  a  sense  of  his  late  condition,  and 
while  the  wonders  of  the  deluge  were  fresh  in  his 
mind,  spent  his  first  days  in  the  ecstasies  of  his  soul, 
giving  thanks,  and  praising  the  power  that  had  been 
his  protection  in  and  through  the  flood  of  waters,  and 
which  had  in  so  miraculous  a  manner  safely  la-nded 
him  on  the  surface  of  the  newly  discovered  land  ;  and 
the  text  tells  us,  as  one  of  the  first  things  he  was  em- 
ployed in,  he  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  offered 
burnt-offerings  upon  the  altar.  Gen.  viii.  20. 

While  Noah  was  thus  employed,  he  was  safe,  the 
Devil  himself  could  nowhere  break  in  upon  him;  and 
we  may  suppose  very  reasonably,  as  he  found  the  old 
father  invulnerable,  he  left  him  for  some  years,  watch- 
ing notwithstanding  all  possible  advantages  against 
his  sons,  and  their  children  ;  for  now  the  family  began 
to  increase,  and  Noah's  sons  had  several  children  ; 
whether  himself  had  any  more  children  after  the  flood 
or  not,  that  we  are  not  arrived  to  any  certainty  about. 

Among  his  sons  the  Devil  found  Japhet  and  Shem, 
good,  pious,  religious,  and  very  devout  persons ;  serv- 
ing God  daily,  after  the  example  of  their  good  old 
father  Noah ;  and  he  could  make  nothing  of  them,  or 
of  any  of  their  posterity ;  but  Ham,  the  second,  or, 


106  THE  HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

according  to  some,  the  younger  son  of  Noah,  had  a 
son,  who  was  named  Canaan,  a  loose  young  profligate 
fellow;  his  education  was  probably  but  cursory  and 
superficial,  his  father  Ham  not  being  near  so  religious 
and  serious  a  man  as  his  brothers  Shem  and  Japhet 
were ;  and,  as  Canaan's  education  was  defective,  so 
he^  proved,  as  untaught  youth  generally  do,  a  wild, 
and,  in  short,  a  very  wicked  fellow,  and  consequently 
a  fit  tool  for  the  Devil  to  go  to  work  with. 

Noah,  a  diligent  industrious  man,  being  with  all  his 
family  thus  planted  in  the  rich  fruitful  plains  of  Arme- 
nia, or  wherever  you  please,  let  it  be  near  the  moun- 
tains of  Caucasus  or  Ararat,  went  immediately  to 
work,  cultivating  and  improving  the  soil,  increasing 
his  cattle  and  pastures,  sowing  corn,  and  among  other 
things  planted  trees  for  food  ;  and  among  the  fruit- 
trees  he  planted  vines,  of  the  grapes  whereof  he  made, 
no  doubt,  as  they  still  in  the  same  country  do  make, 
most  excellent  wine,  rich,  luscious,  strong,  and  pleas- 
ant. 

I  cannot  come  into  the  notion  of  our  critics,  who,  to 
excuse  Noah  from  the  guilt  of  what  followed,  or  at 
least  from  the  censure,  tell  us,  he  knew  not  the  strength 
or  the  nature  of  wine ;  but  that  gathering  the  heavy 
clusters  of  the  grapes,  and  their  own  weight  crushing 
out  their  balmy  juices  into  his  hand,  he  tasted  the 
tempting  liquor;  and  that,  the  Devil  assisting,  he  was 
charmed  with  the  delicious  fragrance,  and  tasted  again 
and  again,  pressing  it  out  into  a  bowl,  or  dish,  that  he 
might  take  a  larger  quantity;  till  at  length  the  heady 
froth  ascended,  and  seized  his  brain ;  he  became  intox- 
icate and  drunk,  not  in  the  least  imagining  there  was 
any  such  strength  in  the  juice  of  that  excellent  fruit. 

But  to  make  out  this  story,  which  is  indeed  very 
favorable  for  Noah,  but  in  itself  extremely  ridiculous, 
you  must  necessarily  fall  into  some  absurdities,  and 
beg  the  question  most  egregiously  in  some  particular 
cases ;  which  way  of  arguing  will  by  no  means  support 
what  is  suggested ;  at  first  you  must  suppose  there  was 
no  such  thing  as  wine  made  before  the  deluge,  and 
that  nobody  had  been  ever  made  drunk  with  the  juice 
of  the  grape  before  Noah  ;  which,  I  say,  is  begging  the 
question  in  the  grossest  manner. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  107 

If  the  contrary  is  true,  as  I  see  no  reason  to  question ; 
if,  I  say,  it  was  true,  that  there  was  wine  drank,  and 
that  men  were  or  had  been  drunk  with  it  before;  they 
cannot  then  but  suppose,  that  Noah,  who  was  a  wise, 
a  great  and  good  man,  and  a  preacher  of  righteousness, 
both  knew  of  it,  and  without  doubt  had,  in  his  preach- 
ing against  their  crimes,  preached  against  this  among 
the  rest,  upbraided  them  with  it,  reproved  them  for  it, 
and  exhorted  them  against  it. 

Again,  it  is  highly  probable  they  had  grapes  grow- 
ing, and  consequently  wines  made  from  them,  in  the 
antediluvian  world:  how  else  did  Noah  come  by  the 
vines  which  he  planted  ?  For  we  are  to  suppose,  he 
could  plant  no  trees  or  shrubs,  but  such  as  he  found 
the  roots  of  in  the  earth,  and  which  no  doubt  had  been 
there  before  in  their  highest  perfection,  and  had  con- 
sequently grown  up,  and  brought  forth  the  same 
luscious  fruit,  before. 

Besides,  as  he  found  the  roots  of  the  vines,  so  he 
understood  what  they  were,  and  what  fruit  they  bore, 
or  else  it  may  be  supposed  also  he  would  not  have 
planted  them;  for  he  planted  them  for  their  fruit,  as 
he  did  it  in  the  provision  he  was  making  for  his  sub- 
sistence, and  the  subsistence  of  his  family ;  and  if  he 
did  not  know  what  they  were,  he  would  not  have  set 
them ;  for  he  was  not  planting  for  diversion,  but  for 
profit. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  seems  plain  to  me.  he  knew  what 
he  did,  as  well  when  he  planted  the  vines,  as  when  he 
pressed  out  the  grapes ;  and  also,  when  he  drank  the 
juice,  that  he  knew  it  was  wine,  was  strong,  and 
would  make  him  drunk,  if  he  took  enough  of  it.  He 
knew  that  other  men  had  been  drunk  with  such  liquor 
before  the  flood;  and  that  he  had  reprehended  them 
for  it:  and  therefore  it  was  not  his  ignorance,  but  the 
Devil  took  him  at  some  advantage,  when  his  appetite 
was  eager,  or  he  thirsty,  and  the  liquor  cooling  and 
pleasant;  and  in  short,  as  Eve  said,  the  serpent  be- 
guiled her,  and  she  did  eat,  so  the  Devil  beguiled 
Noah,  and  he  did  drink;  the  temptation  was  too 
strong  for  Noah,  not  the  wine ;  he  knew  well  enough 
what  he  did,  but,  as  the  drunkards  say  to  this  day,  it 
was  so  good  he  could  not  forbear  it,  and  so  he  got 


108  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE  DEVIL. 

drunk  before  be  was  aware ;  or,  as  our  ordinary  speech 
expresses  it,  he  was  overtaken  with  drink;  and  Mr. 
Pool,  and  other  expositors,  are  partly  of  the  same 
mind. 

No  sooner  was  the  poor  old  man  conquered,  and  the 
wine  had  lightened  his  head,  but  it  may  be  supposed 
he  falls  off  from  the  chair  or  bench  where  he  sat,  and, 
tumbling  backward,  his  clothes,  which  in  those  hot 
countries  were  only  loose  open  robes,  like  the  vests 
which  the  Armenians  wear  to  this  day,  flying  abroady 
or  the  Devil  so  assisting  on  purpose  to  expose  him,  he 
lay  there  in  a  naked  indecent  posture  not  fit  to  be  seen. 

In  this  juncture  who  should  come  by  but  young 
Canaan!  say  some;  or,  as  others  think,  this  young 
fellow  first  attacked  him  by  way  of  kindness,  and  pre- 
tended affection ;  prompted  his  grandfather  to  drink, 
on  pretence  of  the  wine  being  good  for  him,  and  proper 
for  the  support  of  his  old  age;  and  subtly  set  upon 
him,  drinking  also  with  him ;  and  so  (his  head  being 
too  strong  for  the  old  man's)  drank  him  down,  and 
then,  devil-like,  triumphed  over  him ;  boasted  of  his 
conquest,  insulted  the  body  as  it  were  dead,  and  un- 
covered him  on  purpose  to  expose  him;  and,  leaving 
him  in  that  indecent  posture,  went  and  made  sport 
with  it  to  his  father  Ham,  who  in  that  part,  wicked 
like  himself,  did  the  same  to  his  brethren,  Japhet  and 
Shem ;  but  they,  like  modest  and  good  men,  far  from 
carrying  on  the  wicked  insult  on  their  parent,  went 
and  covered  him,  as  the  Scripture  expresses  it,  and,  as 
may  be  supposed,  informed  him  how  he  had  been 
abused,  and  by  whom. 

Why  else  should  Noah,  when  he  came  to  himself, 
show  his  resentment  so  much  against  Canaan  his 
grandson,  rather  than  against  Ham  his  father ;  and 
whom  it  is  supposed  in  the  story  the  guilt  chiefly  lay 
upon  ?  We  see  the  curse  is  (as  it  were)  laid  wholly 
upon  Canaan,  the  grandson,  and  not  a  word  of  the 
father  is  mentioned,  Gen.  ix.  25,  26,  27.  "  Cursed  be 
Canaan;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be,"  &c. 

That  Ham  was  guilty  that  is  certain  from  the  his- 
tory of  fact;  but  I  cannot  but  suppose  his  grandson 
was  the  occasion  of  it;  and  in  this  case  the  Devil 
seems  to  have  made  Canaan  the  instrument  or  tool  to 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE    DEVIL.  109 

delude  Noah,  and  draw  him  in  to  drunkenness,  as  he 
made  the  serpent  the  tool  to  beguile  Eve.  and  draw 
her  into  disobedience. 

Possibly  Canaan  might  do  it  without  design  at  first, 
but  might  be  brought  in  to  ridicule,  and  make  a  jest 
of,  the  old  patriarch  afterward,  as  is  too  frequent  since 
in  the  practice  of  our  days;  but  I  rather  believe  he  did 
it  really  with  a  wicked  design,  and  on  purpose  to  ex- 
pose and  insult  his  reverend  old  parent  ;  and  this 
seems  more  like  too,  because  of  the  great  bitterness 
with  which  Noah  resented  it  after  he  came  to  be  in- 
formed of  it. 

But  be  that  as  it  will,  the  Devil  certainly  made  a 
great  conquest  here,  and,  as  to  outward  appearance, 
no  less  than  that  which  he  gained  before  over  Adam  ; 
nor  did  the  Devil's  victory  consist  barely  in  his  hav- 
ing drawn  in  the  only  righteous  man  of  the  whole 
antediluvian  world,  and  so  beginning  or  initiating  the 
new  young  progeny  with  a  crime;  but  here  was  the 
great  oracle  silenced  at  once  ;  the  preacher  of  righte- 
ousness, for  such  no  doubt  he  would  have  been  to  the 
new  world,  as  he  was  to  the  old,  I  say,  the  preacher 
was  turned  out  of  office,  or  his  mouth  stopt,  which  was 
worse;  nay,  it  was  a  stopping  of  his  mouth  in  the 
worst  kind, -far  worse  than  stopping  his  breath;  for 
had  he  died,  the  office  had  descended  to  his  sons  Shem 
and  Japhet;  but  he  was  dead  to  the  office  of  an  in- 
structor, though  alive  as  to  his  being :  for  of  what 
force  could  his  preachings  be,  who  had  thus  fallen  him- 
self into  the  most  shameful  and  beastly  excess? 

Besides,  some  are  of  the  opinion,  though  I  hope 
without  ground,  that  Noah  was  not  only  overtaken 
once  in  his  drink,  but  that,  being  fallen  into  that  sin, 
it  became  habitual,  and  he  continued  in  it  a  great 
while;  and  that  it  was  this  which  is  the  meaning  of 
his  being  uncovered  in  his  tent,  and  that  his  son  saw 
his  nakedness;  that  is,  he  continually  exposed  himself 
for  a  long  time,  an  hundred  years,  say  they :  and  that 
his  son  Ham.  and  his  grandson  Canaan,  having  drawn 
him  into  it,  kept  him  in  it.  encouraged  and  prompted 
it,  and  all  the  while.  Satan  still  prompting  them,  joined 
their  scoffs  and  contempt  of  him,  with  their  wicked 
10 


110  THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

endeavors  to  promote  the  wickedness;  and  both  with 
as  much  success  as  the  Devil  himself  could  wish  for. 

Then,  as  for  his  two  sons  modestly  and  decently 
covering  their  father,  they  tell  us,  that  represents  Shem 
and  Japhet  applying  themselves  in  an  humble  and 
dutiful  manner  to  their  father,  to  intreat  and  beseech 
him  to  consider  his  ancient  glory,  his  own  pious  exhor- 
tations to  the  late  drowned  world,  and  to  consider  the 
offence  which  he  gave  by  his  evil  courses  to  God,  and 
the  scandal  to  his  whole  family;  arid  also  that  they 
are  brought  in  effectually  prevailing  upon  him;  and 
that  then  Noah  cursed  the  wickedness  of  Ham's  degen- 
erate race,  in  testimony  of  his  sincere  repentance  after 
the  fact. 

The  story  is  not  so  very  unlikely,  as  it  is  certain 
that  it  is  not  to  be  proved ;  and  therefore  we  had  better 
take  it  as  we  find  it,  namely,  for  one  single  act.  But 
suppose  it  was  so,  it  is  still  certain  that  Noah's  preach- 
ing was  sadly  interrupted,  the  energy  of  his  words  flat- 
tened, and  the  force  of  his  persuasions  enervated  and 
abated,  by  this  shameful  fall ;  that  he  was  effectually 
silenced  for  an  instructor  ever  after.  And  this  was  as 
much  as  the  Devil  had  occasion  for;  and  therefore  in- 
deed we  read  little  more  of  him,  except  that  he  lived 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  flood;  nay,  we 
do  not  so  much  as  read,  that  he  had  any  more  chil- 
dren, but  the  contrary;  nor  indeed  could  Noah  have 
any  more  children,  except  by  his  old  and  perhaps  su- 
perannuated wife,  whom  it  was  very  likely  he  had  had 
four  or  five  hundred  years,  unless  you  will  suppose  he 
was  allowed  to  marry  some  of  his  own  progeny, 
daughters  or  grand-daughters,  which  we  do  not  sup- 
pose was  allowed,  no  not  to  Adam  himself. 

This  was  certainly  a  master-piece  of  the  Devil's  pol- 
icy, and  a  fatal  instance  of  his  unhappy  diligence; 
namely,  that  the  door  of  the  ark  was  no  sooner  open, 
and  the  face  of  the  world  hardly  dry  from  the  univer- 
sal destruction  of  mankind,  but  he  was  at  work  among 
them;  and  that  not  only  to  forma  general  defection 
among  the  race,  upon  the  foot  of  the  original  taint  of 
nature,  but  like  a  bold  Devil  he  strikes  at  the  very 
root,  and  flies  at  the  next  general  representative  of 
mankind,  attacks  the  head  of  the  family,  that  in  his 


THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  Ill 

miscarriage  the  rise  and  progress  of  a  reformation  of 
the  new  world  should  receive  an  early  check,  and 
should  be  a*  once  prevented;  I  say,  like  a  bold  devil, 
he  strikes  at  the  root;  and  alas  !  poor  unhappy  Noah  ! 
he  proved  too  weajr  for  him;  Satan  prevailed  in  his 
very  first  attempt  and  got  the  victory  over  him  at 
once. 

Noah  thus  overcome,  and  Satan's  conquest  carried 
on  to  the  utmost  of  his  own  wishes,  the  Devil  had  little 
more  to  do  in  the  world  for  some  ages,  than  to  carry 
on  an  universal  degeneracy  among  mankind,  and  to 
finish  it  by  a  like  diligent  application,  in  deluding  the 
generality  of  the  race,  and  them  as  they  came  on  grad- 
ually into  life  ;  this  he  found  the  less  difficult,  because 
of  the  first  defection  which  spread  like  a  contagion  upon 
the  earth  immediately  after. 

The  first  evidence  we  have  of  his  success  in  this 
mischievous  design  was  in  the  building  that  great  stu- 
pendous staircase,  for  such  it  seems  it  was  intended, 
called  Babel,  which,  if  the  whole  world  had  not  been 
drunk,  or  otherwise  infatuated,  they  would  never  have 
undertaken ;  even  Satan  himself  could  never  have  pre- 
vailed with  them  to  undertake  such  a  preposterous 
piece  of  work,  for  it  had  neither  end  or  means,  possi- 
bility or  probability  in  it. 

1  must  confess  I  am  sometimes  apt  to  vindicate  our 
old  ancestors,  in  my  thoughts,  from  the  charge  itself, 
as  we  generally  understand  it ;  namely,  that  they  really 
designed  to  build  a  tower  which  should  reach  up  to 
heaven,  or  that  it  should  secure  them  in  case  of 
another  flood;  and  Father  Casaubon  is  of  my  opinion. 
Whether  I  am  of  his  or  no,  is  a  question  by  itself. 
His  opinion  is,  that  the  confusion  was  nothing  but  a 
breach  among  the  undertakers  and  directors  of  the 
work  ;  and  that  the  building  was  designed  chiefly  for 
a  storehouse  for  provisions,  in  case  of  a  second  deluge. 
As  to  their  notion  of  its  reaching  up  to  heaven,  he 
takes  the  expression  to  be  allegorical  rather  than  literal, 
and  only  to  mean  that  it  should  be  exceeding  high. 
Perhaps  they  might  not  be  astronomers  enough  to 
measure  the  distance  of  space  between  the  earth  and 
heaven,  as  we  pretend  to  do  now ;  but  as  Noah  was  then 
alive,  and  as  we  believe  all  his  three  sons  were  so  too, 


112  THE   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

they  were  able  to  have  informed  them  how  absurd  it 
was  to  suppose  either  the  one  or  the  other;  namely, 
1,  that  they  could  build  up  to  heaven*  or,  2,  that 
they  could  build  firm  enough  to  resist,  or  high  enough 
to  overtop  the  waters,  supposing  such  another  flood 
should  happen.  I  would  rather  think  it  was  only  that 
they  intended  to  build  a  most  glorious  and  magnificent 
city,  where  they  might  all  inhabit  together  ;  and  that 
this  tower  was  to  be  built  for  ornament,  and  also  for 
strength,  or  as  above,  and  for  a  storehouse  to  lay  up 
vast  magazines  of  provisions,  in  case  of  extraordinary 
floods,  or  other  events,  the  city  being  built  in  a  great 
plain,  namely,  the  plains  of  Shinar,  near  the  river 
Euphrates. 

But  the  story,  as  it  is  recorded,  suits  better  with 
Satan's  measures  at  that  time;  and  as  he  was  from 
the  beginning  prompting  them  to  everything  that  was 
contrary  to  the  happiness  of  man,  so  the  more  pre- 
posterous it  was,  and  the  more  inconsistent  with  com- 
mon sense,  the  more  to  his  purpose;  and  it  showed 
the  more  what  a  complete  conquest  he  had  gained 
over  the  reason  as  well  as  the  religion  of  mankind  at 
that  time. 

Again,  it  is  evident  in  this  case,  they  were  not  only 
acting  contrary  to  the  nature  of  things,  but  contrary  to 
the  design  and  to  the  command  of  heaven  ;  for  God's 
command  was,  that  they  should  replenish  the  earth, 
that  is,  that  they  should  spread  their  habitations  over  it, 
and  people  the  whole  globe;  whereas  they  were  pitch- 
ing in  one  place,  as  if  they  were  not  to  multiply  suf- 
ficient to  take  up  any  more. 

But  what  cared  the  Devil  for  that?  or,  to  put  it  a 
little  handsomer,  that  was  what  Satan  aimed  at;  for 
it  was  enough  to  him,  to  bring  mankind  to  act  just 
contrary  to  what  heaven  had  directed  or  commanded 
them  in  anything,  and  if  possible,  in  everything. 

But  God  himself  put  a  stop 'to  this  foolish  piece  of 
work  ;  and  it  was  time  indeed  to  do  so,  for  a  madder 
thing  the  Devil  himself  never  proposed  to  them  ;  I  say, 
God  himself  put  a  stop  to  this  new  undertaking,  and 
disappointed  the  Devil;  and  how  was  it  done?  Not 
in  judgment  and  anger,  as  perhaps  the  Devil  expected, 
and  hoped  for,  but  as  pitying  the  simplicity  of  that 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL.  113 

dreaming  creature  man,  he  confused  their  speech,  or 
as  some  say,  divided  and  confused  their  counsels,  so 
that  they  could  not  agree  with  one  another;  which 
would  be  the  same  thing  as  not  to  understand  one 
another;  or  he  put  a  new  Shibboleth  upon  their 
tongues,  thereby  separating  them  into  tribes  or  families, 
for  by  this  every  family  found  themselves  under  a 
necessity  of  keeping  together;  and  this  naturally  in- 
creased that  different  jargon  of  language,  for  at  first  it 
might  be  no  more. 

What  a  confusion  this  was  to  them  we  all  know,  by 
their  being  obliged  to  leave  off  their  building,  and  im- 
mediately separating  one  from  another;  but  what  a 
surprise  it  was  to  the  old  serpent,  that  remains  to  be 
considered  of,  for  indeed  it  belongs  to  his  history. 

Satan  had  never  met  with  any  disappointment  in  all 
his  wicked  attempts  till  now;  for  first,  he  succeeded 
even  to  triumph  upon  Eve,  he  did  the  like  upon  Cain, 
and,  in  short,  upon  the  whole  world,  one  man  (Noah) 
excepted ;  when  he  blended  the  sons  of  God,  and  the 
daughters  of  hell,  for  so  the  word  is  understood, 
together,  in  promiscuous  voluptuous  living  as  well  as 
generation. 

As  to  the  deluge,  authors  are  not  agreed  whether  it 
was  a  disappointment  to  the  Devil  or  no;  it  might  he 
indeed  a  surprise  to  him ;  for  though  Noah  had 
preached  of  it  for  an  hundred  years  together ;  yet,  as 
he  (Satan)  daily  prompted  the  people  not  to  heed  or 
believe  what  that  old  fellow  Noah  said  to  them,  and 
to  ridicule  his  whimsical  building  a  monstrous  tub  to 
swim  or  float  in,  when  the  said  deluge  should  come; 
so  I  am  of  the  opinion  he  did  not  believe  it  himself,  and 
am  positive  he  could  not  foresee  it,  by  any  insight  into 
futurity  that  he  was  master  of. 

It  is  true  the  astronomers  tell  us,  there  was  a  very 
terrible  comet  seen  in  the  air  ;  that  it  appeared  for  one 
hundred  and  eighty  days  before  the  flood  continually; 
and  that  as  it  approached  nearer  and  nearer  every  day 
all  the  while,  so  that  at  last  it  burst  and  fell  down  in  a 
continual  spout  or  stream  of  water,  being  of  a  watery 
substance,  and  the  quantity  so  great,  that  it  was  forty 
days  a  falling ;  so  that  this  comet  not  only  foretold  the 
10* 


114  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

deluge  or  drowning  of  the  earth,  but  actually  per- 
formed it,  and  drowned  it  from  itself. 

But  to  Cleave  this  tale  to  them  that  told  it,  let  us 
consider  the  Devil,  surprised,  and  a  little  amazed,  at 
the  absorption  or  inundation,  or  whatever  we  are  to  call 
it,  of  the  earth  in  the  deluge;  not,  I  say,  that  he  was 
much  concerned  at  it,  perhaps  just  the  contrary  ;  and 
if  God  would  drown  it  again,  and  as  often  as  he 
thought  fit,  I  do  not  see  by  anything  I  meet  with  in 
Satan's  history,  or  in  the  nature  of  him,  that  he  would 
be  at  all  disturbed  at  it ;  all  that  I  can  see  in  it,  that 
could  give  Satan  any  concern,  would  be,  that  all  his 
favorites  were  gone,  and  he  had  his  work  to  do  over 
again,  to  lay  a  foundation  for  a  new  conquest  in  the 
generation  that  was  to  come.  But  in  this  his  prospect 
was  fair  enough  ;  for  why  should  he  be  discouraged, 
when  he  had  now  eight  people  to  work  upon,  who  met 
with  such  success  when  he  had  but  two  ?  And  why 
should  he  question  breaking  in  now,  where  nature  was 
already  vitiated  and  corrupted,  when  he  had  before 
conquered  the  same  nature,  when  in  its  primitive  rec- 
titude and  purity,  just  come  out  of  the  hands  of  its 
maker,  and  fortified  with  the  awe  of  his  high  and 
solemn  command  just  given  them,  and  the  threatening 
of  death  also  annexed  to  it,  if  broken  ? 

But  I  go  back  to  the  affair  of  Babel,  this  confusion 
of  language,  or  of  counsels,  take  it  which  way  you 
will,  as  the  first  disappointment  that  I  find  the  Devil 
met  with,  in  all  his  attempts  and  practices  upon  man- 
kind, or  upon  the  new  creature,  which  I  mentioned 
above;  for  now  he  foresaw  what  would  follow; 
namely,  that  the  people  would  separate  and  spread 
themselves  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth,  and  a 
thousand  new  scenes  of  actions  would  appear,  in  which 
he  therefore  prepares  himself  to  behave  as  he  should 
see  occasion. 

How  the  Devil  learned  to  speak  all  the  languages 
that  were  now  to  be  used,  and  how  many  languages 
they  were,  the  several  ancient  writers  of  the  Devil's 
story  have  not  yet  determined ;  some  tell  us  they  were 
divided  only  into  fifteen,  some  into  seventy-two,  others 
into  one  hundred  and  eighty,  and  others  again  into 
several  thousands. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

It  also  remains  a  doubt  with  me,  and,  I  suppose, 
will  be  so  with  others  also,  whether  Satan  has  yet 
found  out  a  method  to  converse  with  mankind,  with- 
out the  help  of  language  and  words,  or  not ;  seeing 
man  has  no  other  medium  of  conversing,  no  not  with 
himself.  This  I  have  not  time  to  enter  upon  here  ; 
however,  this  seems  plain  to  me  ;  namely,  that  the 
Devil  soon  learned  to  make  mankind  understand  him, 
whatever  language  he  spoke  ;  and  no  doubt  but  he 
found  ways  and  means  to  understand  them,  whatever 
language  they  spoke. 

After  the  confusion  of  languages,  the  people  neces- 
sarily sorted  themselves  into  families  and  tribes,  every 
family  understanding  their  own  particular  speech,  and 
that  only;  and  these  families  multiplying  grew  into 
nations;  and  those  nations,  wanting  room,  and  seeking 
out  habitations,  wandered  some  this  way,  some  that, 
till  they  found  out  countries  respectively  proper  for 
their  settling ;  and  there  they  became  a  kingdom, 
spreading  and  possessing  still  more  and  more  land  as 
their  people  increased,  till  at  last  the  whole  earth  was 
scarce  big  enough  for  them.  This  presented  Satan 
with  an  opportunity  to  break  in  upon  their  morals 
at  another  door,  namely,  their  pride;  for  men  being 
naturally  proud  and  envious,  nations  and  tribes 
began  to  jostle  with  one  another  for  room ;  either  one 
nation  enjoyed  better  accommodation,  or  "had  a  better 
soil,  or  a  more  favorable  climate,  than  another ;  and 
these,  being  numerous  and  strong,  thrust  the  other 
out,  and  encroached  upon  their  land ;  the  other,  liking 
their  situation,  prepare  for  their  defence ;  and  so  began 
oppression,  invasion,  war,  battle  and  blood  ;  Satan  all 
the  while  beating  the  drums,  and  his  attendants  clap- 
ping their  hands  as  men  do  when  they  set  dogs  upon 
one  another. 

The  bringing  mankind  thus  to  war  and  confusion, 
as  it  was  the  first  game  the  Devil  played  after  the 
confounding  of  languages,  and  divisions  at  Babel,  so  it 
was  a  conquest  upon  mankind,  purely  devilish,  born 
from  hell,  and  so  exactly  tinctured  with  Satan's  orig- 
inal sin,  ambition,  that  it  really  transformed  men  into 
mere  devils;  for  when  is  man  transformed  into  the 
very  image  of  Satan  himself,  when  is  he  turned  into 


116  THE    HISTORY    OP    THE    DEVIL. 

a  mere  devil,  if  it  is  not  when  he  is  fighting  with  his 
fellow  creatures,  and  dipping  his  hands  in  the  blood 
of  his  own  kind?  Let  his  picture  be  considered,  the 
fire  of  hell  flames  or  sparkles  in  his  eyes;  a  voracious 
grin  sits  upon  his  countenance ;  rage  and  fury  distort 
the  muscles  of  his  face ;  his  passions  agitate  his  whole 
body;  and  he  is  metamorphosed  from  a  comely  beaute- 
ous angelic  creature,  into  a  fury,  a  satyr,  a  terrible  and 
frightful  monster,  nay,  into  a  devil ;  for  Satan  himself 
is  described  by  the  same  word  which  on  his  very 
account  is  changed  into  a  substantive,  and  the  devils 
are  called  furies. 

This  sowing  the  seeds  of  strife  in  the  world,  and 
bringing  nations  to  fight  and  make  war  upon  one 
another,  would  take  up  a  great  part  of  the  Devil's  his- 
tory, and  abundance  of  extraordinary  things  would 
occur  in  relating  the  particulars;  for  there  have  been 
very  great  conflagrations  kindled  in  the  world  by  the 
artifice  of  hell,  under  this  head,  namely,  of  making 
war ;  in  which  it  has  been  the  Devil's  master-piece, 
and  he  has  indeed  shown  himself  a  workman  in  it, 
that  he  has  wheedled  mankind  into  strange,  unnatural 
notions  of  things,  in  order  to  propagate  and  support 
the  fighting  principle  in  the  world  ;  such  as  laws  of 
war,  fair  fighting,  behaving  like  men  of  honor,  fighting 
at  the  last  drop;  and  the  like,  by  which  killing  and 
murdering  is  understood  to  be  justifiable.  Virtue,  and 
a  true  greatness  in  spirit,  is  rated  now  by  rules  which 
God  never  appointed ;  and  the  standard  of  honor  is 
quite  different  from  that  of  reason,  and  of  nature. 
Bravery  is  denominated  not  from  a  fearless  undaunted 
spirit  in  the  just  defence  of  life  and  liberty,  but  from  a 
daring  defiance  of  God  and  man,  fighting,  killing,  and 
treading  under  foot  his  fellow-creatures,  at  the  ordi- 
nary command  of  the  officer,  whether  it  be  right  or 
wrong,  and  whether  it  be  in  a  just  defence  of  life,  and 
our  country's  life,  that  is,  liberty,  or  whether  it  be  for 
the  support  of  injury  and  oppression. 

A  prudent  avoiding  causeless  quarrels  is  called 
cowardice,  and  to  take  an  affront,  baseness  and  mean- 
ness of  spirit ;  to  refuse  fighting,  and  putting  life  at  a 
cast  on  the  point  of  a  sword,  a  practice  forbid  by  the 
laws  of  God,  and  of  all  good  government,  is  yet  called 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


nr 


cowardice  ;  and  a  man  is  bound  to  die  duelling,  or  live 
and  be  laughed  at. 

But  thus  has  Satan  abused  the  reason  of  man ;  and 
if  a  man  does  me  the  greatest  injury  in  the  world,  I 
must  do  myself  justice  upon  him,  by  venturing  my  life 
upou  an  even  lay  with  him,  and  must  fight  him  upon 
equal  hazard,  in  which  the  injured  person  is  as  often 
killed  as  the  person  offering  the  injury.  But  this 
indeed  is  the  reasoning  which  the  Devil  has  brought 
mankind  to  at  this  day  :  but  to  go  back  to  the  subject, 
namely,  the  Devil  bringing  the  nations  to  fall  out,  and 
to  quarrel  for  room  in  the  world,  and  so  to  fight  in 
order  to  dispossess  one  another  of  their  settlements. 
This  began  at  a  time  when  certainly  there  were 
places  enough  in  the  world  for  every  one  to  choose  in ; 
and  therefore  the  Devil,  not  the  want  of  elbow-room, 
must  be  the  occasion  of  it;  and  it  is  carried  on  ever 
since,  as  apparently,  from  the  same  interest,  and  by 
the  same  original. 

But  we  shall  meet  with  this  part  again  very  often  in 
the  Devil's  story,  and  as  we  bring  him  farther  on  in 
the  management  of  mankind  :  I  therefore  lay  it  by  for 
the  present,  and  come  to  the  next  steps  the  Devil  took 
with  mankind  after  the  confusion  of  languages:  and 
this  was  in  the  affair  of  worship.  It  does  not  appear 
yet,  that  ever  the  Devil  was  so  bold,  as  either, 

1.  To  set  himself  up  to  be  worshipped  as  a  God  ;  or, 
which  was  still  worse, 

2.  To  persuade  man  to  believe  there  was  no  God  at 
all  to  worship. 

Both  these  are  introduced  since  the  deluge,  one 
indeed  by  the  Devil,  who  soon  found  means  to  set 
himself  up  for  a  god  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and 
holds  it  to  this  day ;  but  the  last  is  brought  in  by  the 
invention  of  man,  in  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  man 
has  out-sinned  the  Devil ;  for,  to  do  Satan  justice,  he 
never  thought  it  could  ever  pass  upon  mankind,  or 
that  anything  so  gross  would  go  down  with  them  ;  so 
that,  in  short,  these  modern  casuists,  in  the  reach  of 
our  days,  have,  I  say,  out-sinned  the  Devil. 

As  then  both  these  are  modern  inventions,  Satan 
went  on  gradually ;  and,  being  to  work  upon  human 


118 


THE    HISTOKY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


nature  by  stratagem,  not  by  force,  it  would  have  been 
too  gross  to  have  set  himself  up  as  an  object  of  wor- 
ship at  first;  it  was  to  be  done  step  by  step  :  for  ex- 
ample : 

1.  It  was  sufficient  to  bring  mankind  to  a  neglect  of 
God,  to  worship  him  by  halves,  and  give  little  or  no 
regard  to  his  laws,  and  so  grow  loose  and  immoral,  in 
direct  contradiction  to  his  commands ;  this  would  not 
go  down  with  them  at  first;  so  the  Devil  went  on 
gradually. 

2.  From  a  negligence  in  worshipping  the  true  God, 
he  by  degrees  introduced  the  worship  of  false  gods :  and 
to  introduce  this,  he  began  with  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars,  called  in  the  holy  text  the  host  of  heaven ;  these 
had  greater  majesty  upon  them,  and  seemed  fitter  to 
command  the  homage  of  mankind;  so  it  was  not  the 
hardest  thing  in  the  world  to  bring  men,  when  they 
had  once  forgotten  the  true  God,  to  embrace  the  wor- 
ship of  such  gods  as  those. 

3.  Having  thus  debauched  their  principles  in  wor- 
ship, and  led  them  from  the  true  and  only  object  of 
worship  to  a  false,  it  was  the  easier  to  carry  them  on  ;  so 
in  a  few  gradations  more  he  brought  them  to  down- 
right idolatry ;  and  even  in  that  idolatry  he  proceeded 
gradually  too ;  for  he  began  with  awful  names,  such 
as  were  venerable  in  the  thoughts  of  men,  as  Baal  or 
Bel,  which,  in  the  Chaldaic  and  Hebrew,  signifies  lord 
or  sovereign,  or  mighty  and  magnificent  ;    and    this 
was    therefore  a  name  ascribed   at  first  to  the  true 
God;  but  afterwards  they  descended  to  make  images 
and  figures  to  represent  him,  and  then  they  were  called 
by  the  same  name,  as  Baal,  Baalim,  and  afterwards 
Bel ;   from   which,   by  an  hellish   degeneracy,   Satan 
brought  mankind  to  adore  every  block  of  their  own 
hewing,  and  to  worshipping  stocks,  stones,  monsters, 
hobgoblins,  and  every  sordid  frightful  thing,  and  at 
last  the  Devil  himself. 

What  notions  some  people  may  entertain  of  the  for- 
wardness of  the  first  ages  of  the  world  to  run  into 
idolatry,  I  do  not  inquire  here ;  I  know  they  tell  us 
strange  things,  of  its  being  the  product  of  mere  nature, 
one  remove  from  its  primitive  state ;  but  I,  who  pre- 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  119 

• 

tend  to  have  so  critically  inquired  into  Satan's  history, 
can  assure  you,  and  that  from  very  good  authority, 
that  the  Devil  did  not  find  it  so  easy  a  task  to  obliter- 
ate the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  in  the  minds  and 
consciences  of  men,  as  those  people  suggest. 

It  is  true  he  carried  things  a  great  length  under  the 
patriarchal  government  of  the  first  ages  ;  but  still  he 
was  sixteen  hundred  years  bringing  it  to  pass  :  and 
though  we  have  reason  to  believe  the  old  world,  before 
the  flood,  was  arrived  to  a  very  great  height  of  wick- 
edness; and  Ovid  very  nobly  describes  it  by  the  war 
•of  the  Titans  against  Jupiter ;  yet  we  do  not  read  that 
ever  Satan  was  come  to  such  a  length  as  to  bring  them 
to  idolatry :  indeed  we  do  read  of  wars  carried  on 
among  them,  whether  it  was  one  nation  against 
another,  or  only  personal,  we  cannot  tell:  but  the 
world  seemed  to  be  swallowed  up  in  a  life  of  wicked- 
ness, that  is  to  say,  of  luxury  and  lewdness,  rapine 
and  violence;  and  there  were  giants  among  them,  and 
men  of  renown,  that  is  to  say,  men  famed  for  their 
mighty  valor,  great  actions  of  war,  we  may  suppose, 
and  their  strength,  who  personally  opposed  others. 
We  read  of  no  considerable  wars  indeed ;  but  it  is  not 
to  be  doubted  but  there  were  such  wars;  or  else  it  is 
to  be  understood  that  they  lived  (in  common)  a  life 
somewhat  like  the  brutes,  the  strong  devouring  the 
weak  ;  for  the  texts  say,  the  whole  earth  was  filled 
with  violence,  hunting  and  tearing  one  another  in 
pieces,  either  for  dominion,  or  for  wealth;  either  for 
ambition,  or  for  avarice,  we  know  not  well  which. 

Thus  far  the  old  antediluvian  world  went ;  and  very 
wicked  they  were,  there  is  no  doubt  of  that;  but  we 
have  reason  to  believe  that  was  no  idolatry;  the  Devil 
had  not  brought  them  that  length  yet  ;  perhaps  it 
would  soon  have  followed,  but  the  deluge  intervened. 

After  the  deluge,  as  I  have  said,  he  had  all  his 
work  to  do  over  again,  and  he  went  on  by  the  same 
steps ;  first  he  brought  them  to  violence  and  Avar,  then 
to  oppression  and  tyranny,  then  to  neglect  of  true 
worship,  then  to  false  worship,  and  then  idolatry  by 
the  mere  natural  consequence  of  the  thing.  Who 
were  the  first  nation  or  people  that  fell  from  the  wor- 
ship of  the  true  God.  is  something  hard  to  determine ; 


120  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

the  Devil,  who  certainly  of  all  God's  creatures  is  best 
able  to  inform  us,  having  left  us  nothing  upon  record 
upon  that  subject:  but  we  have  reason  to  believe  it 
was  thus  introduced  : 

Nimrod  was  the  grandson  of  Ham,  Noah's  second 
son,  the  same  who  was  cursed  by  his  father  for  expos- 
ing him  in  his  drunkenness :  this  Nimrod  was  the  first 
whom  it  seems  Satan  picked  out  for  an  hero:  here  he 
inspired  him  with  ambitious  thoughts,  dreams  of  em- 
pire, and  having  the  government  of  all  the  rest,  that  is 
to  say,  universal  monarchy;  the  very  same  bait  with 
which  he  has  played  upon  the  frailty  of  princes,  ano> 
ensnared  the  greatest  of  them  ever  since,  even  from  his 
most  august  imperial  majesty  King  Nimrod  the  first,  to 
his  most  Christian  majesty  Louis  XIV.,  and  many  a 
mighty  monarch  between. 

When  these  mighty  monarchs  and  men  of  fame  went 
off  the  stage,  the  world  had  their  memories  in  esteem 
many  ages  after  ;  and  as  their  great  actions  were 
no  otherwise  recorded  than  by  oral  tradition,  and  the 
tongues  and  memories  of  fallible  men,  time  and  the 
custom  of  magnifying  the  past  actions  of  kings,  men 
soon  fabled  up  their  histories,  Satan  assisting,  into 
miracle  and  wonder :  hence  their  names  were  had  in 
veneration  more  and  more ;  statues  and  bustoes  repre- 
senting their  persons,  and  great  actions,  were  set  up  in 
public  places,  till  from  heroes  and  champions  they 
made  gods  of  them ;  and  thus  (Satan  prompting)  the 
world  was  quickly  filled  with  idols. 

This  Nimrod  is  he,  who,  according  to  the  received 
opinion,  though  I  do  not  find  Satan's  history  exactly 
concurring  with  it,  was  first  called  Belus,  then  Baal, 
and  worshipped  in  most  of  the  eastern  countries  under 
those  names;  sometimes  with  additions  of  surnames, 
according  to  the  several  countries,  or  people,  or  towns, 
where  he  was  particularly  set  up,  as  Baal-Peor,  Baal- 
Zephon,  Baal-Phegor,  and  in  other  places  plain  Baal, 
as  Jupiter  in  aftertimes  had  the  like  additions  :  as 
Jupiter  Ammon,  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  Jupiter  Pistor, 
Jupiter  Feretrius,  and  about  ten  or  twelve  Jupiters 
more. 

I  must  acknowledge  that  I  think  it  was  a  master- 
piece of  hell,  to  bring  the  world  to  idolatry  so  soon 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  121 

after  they  had  had  such  an  eminent  example  of  the 
infinite  power  of  the  true  (jrod,  as  was  seen  in  the 
deluge,  and  particularly  in  the  escape  of  Noah  in  the 
ark  ;  to  bring  them  (even  before  Noah  or  his  sons  were 
dead)  to  forget  whose  hand  it  was,  and  give  the 
homage  of  the  world  to  a  name,  and  that  a  name 
of  a  mortal  man  dead  and  rotten,  who  was  famous 
for  nothing  when  he  was  alive,  but  blood  and 
war;  I  say,  to  bring  the  world  to  set  up  this  nothing, 
this  mere  name,  nay,  the  very  image  and  picture  of 
him,  for  a  God  !  It  was  first  a  mark  of  prodigious 
stupidity  in  the  whole  race  of  men,  a  monstrous  de- 
generacy from  nature,  and  even  from  common  sense; 
and  in  the  next  place  it  was  a  token  of  an  inexpressible 
craft  and  subtility  in  the  Devil,  who  had  now  gotten 
the  people  into  so  full  and  complete  a  management, 
that,  in  short,  he  could  have  brought  them  by  the  same 
rule,  to  have  worshipped  anything  ;  and  in  a  little 
while  more,  did  bring  many  of  them  to  worship  him- 
self, plain  devil  as  he  was.  and  knowing  him  to  be 
such. 

As  to  the  antiquity  of  this  horrible  defection  of  man- 
kind, though  we  do  not  find  the  beginning  of  it  par- 
ticularly recorded,  yet  we  are  certain,  it  was  not  long 
after  the  confusion  of  Babel :  for  Nimrod,  as  is  said, 
was  no  more  than  Noah's  great-grandson,  and  Noah 
himself,  I  suppose,  might  be  alive  some  years  after 
Nimrod  was  born  ;  and  as  Nimrod  was  not  long  dead, 
before  they  forgot  that  he  was  a  tyrant,  and  a  mur- 
derer, and  made  a  Baal,  that  is,  a  lord  or  idol  of  him; 
I  say,  he  was  not  long  dead ;  for  Nimrod  was  born  in 
the  year  of  the  world  1847,  and  built  Babylon  the 
year  1879  :  and  we  find  Terah,  the  father  of  Abraham, 
who  lived  from  the  year  1879,  was  an  idolater,  as  was 
doubtless  Bethuel,  who  was  Terah's  grandson;  for  we 
find  Laban,  who  was  Bethuel's  son,  was  so,  and  all 
this  was  during  the  life  of  the  first  postdiluvian 
family  ;  for  Terah  was  born  within  one  hundred  nine- 
ty-three years  after  the  flood,  and  one  hundred  fifty- 
seven  years  before  Noah  was  dead ;  and  even  Abra- 
ham himself  was  eight-and-fifty  years  old  before  Noah 
died ;  and  yet  idolatry  had  been  then,  in  all  probability, 
above  an  hundred  years  practised  in  the  world. 


122  THE   HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

N.  B.  It  is  worth  remark  here,  what  a  terrible  ad- 
vantage the  Devil  gained  by  the  debauching  poor  Noah, 
and  drawing  him  into  the  sin  of  drunkenness ;  for  by 
this,  as  I  said,  he  silenced  and  stopped  the  mouth  of 
the  great  preacher  of  righteousness,  that  father  and 
patriarch  of  the  whole  world  ;  who  not  being  able,  for 
the  shame  of  his  own  foul  miscarriage,  to  pretend  to 
instruct  or  reprove  the  world  any  more,  the  Devil  took 
hold  of  them  immediately  ;  and  for  want  of  a  prophet 
to  warn  and  admonish,  run  that  little  of  religion  which 
there  might  be  left  in  Shem  and  Japhet,  quite  out  of 
the  world,  and  deluged  them  all  in  Idolatry. 

How  long  the  whole  world  may  be  said  to  be  thus 
overwhelmed  in  ignorance  and  idolatry,  we  may  make 
some  tolerable  guess  at  by  the  history  of  Abraham  ;  for 
it  was  not  till  God  called  him  from  his  father's  house, 
that  any  such  thing  as  a  church  was  established  in  the 
world  ;  nor  even  then,  except  in  his  own  family  and 
successors  for  almost  four  hundred  years  after  that 
call;  and  till  God  brought  the  Israelites  back  out  of 
Egypt,  the  whole  world  might  be  said  to  be  involved 
in  idolatry  and  devil-worship. 

So  absolute  a  conquest  had  the  Devil  made  over 
mankind  immediately  after  the  flood  ;  and  all  taking 
its  rise  and  beginning  at  the  fatal  defeat  of  Noah,  who, 
had  he  lived  untainted  and  invulnerable,  as  he  had 
done  for  six  hundred  years  before,  would  have  gone  a 
great  way  to  have  stemmed  the  torrent  of  wickedness 
which  broke  in  upon  mankind ;  and  therefore  the 
Devil,  I  say,  was  very  cunning,  and  very  much  in  the 
right  of  it.  take  him  as  he  is  a  mere  devil,  to  attack 
Noah  personally,  and  give  him  a  blow  so  soon. 

It  is  true,  the  Devil  did  not  immediately  raze  out 
the  notion  of  religion,  and  of  a  God,  from  the  minds  of 
men;  nor  could  he  easily  suppress  the  principle  of 
worship  and  homage,  to  be  paid  to  a  sovereign  being,  the 
author  of  nature,  and  guide  of  the  world:  the  Devil 
saw  this  clearly  in  the  first  ages  of  the  new  world; 
and  therefore,  as  I  have  said,  he  proceeded  politically, 
and  by  degrees.  That  it  was  so,  is  evident  from  the 
story  of  Job.  and  his  three  friends;  who.  if  we  may 
take  it  for  an  history,  not  a  fable,  and  may  judge  of 
the  time  of  it  by  the  length  of  Job's  life,  and  by  the 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  123 

family  of  Eliphaz  the  Temanite,  who  it  is  manifest 
was  at  least  grandson,  or  great-grandson,  to  Esau, 
Isaac's  eldest  son  ;  and  by  the  language  of  Abimelech 
King  of  Gerar  to  Abraham,  and  of  Laban  to  Jacob, 
both  the  latter  being  at  the  same  time  idolaters;  I  say, 
if  we  may  judge  of  it  by  all  these,  there  were  still 
very  sound  notions  of  religion  in  the  minds  of  men ; 
nor  could  Satan  with  all  his  cunning  and  policy  deface 
those  ideas,  and  root  them  out  of  the  minds  of  the 
people. 

And  this  put  him  upon  taking  new  measures  to  keep 
up  his  interest,  and  preserve  the  hold  he  got  upon 
mankind;  and  this  method  was  like  himself,  subtle 
and  politic  to  the  last  degree,  as  his  whole  history 
makes  appear  ;  for,  seeing  he  found  they  could  not  but 
believe  the  being  of  a  God,  and  that  they  would  needs 
worship  something,  it  is  evident,  he  had  no  game  left 
him  to  play  but  this;  namely,  to  set  up  wrong  notions 
of  worship,  and  bring  them  to  a  false  worship  instead 
of  a  true,  supposing  the  object  worshipped  to  be  still 
the  same. 

To  finish  this  stratagem,  he  first  insinuates,  that  the 
true  God  was  a  terrible,  a  dreadful,  unapproachable 
being  ;  that  to  see  him  was  so  frightful  that  it  would 
be  present  death;  that  to  worship  him  immediately, 
was  a  presumption  which  would  provoke  his  wrath  ; 
and  that  as  he  was  a  consuming  fire  in  himself,  so  he 
would  burn  up  those  in  his  anger  that  dared  to  offer 
up  any  sacrifice  to  him,  but  by  the  interposition  of 
some  medium,  which  might  receive  their  adorations  in 
his  name. 

Hence  it  occurred  presently,  that  subordinate  Gods 
were  to  be  found  out,  and  set  up,  to  whom  the  people 
might  pay  the  homage  due  to  the  Supreme  God,  and 
whom  they  might  worship  in  his  name.  This  I  take 
from  the  most  ancient  account  of  idolatry  in  the 
world ;  nor,  indeed,  could  the  Devil  himself  find  out 
any  other  reason  why  men  should  canonize,  or  rather 
deify  their  princes  and  men  of  fame,  and  worship 
them  after  they  were  dead,  as  if  they  could  save  them 
from  death  and  calamity,  who  were  not  able  to  save 
themselves  when  they  were  alive;  much  less  could 
Satan  bring  men  to  swallow  so  gross,  so  absurd  a  thing 


124  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

as  the  bowing  the  knee  to  a  stock,  or  a  stone,  a  calf, 
an  ox,  a  lion,  nay,  the  image  or  figure  of  a  calf,  such 
as  the  Israelites  made  at  mount  Sinai,  and  say,  These 
be  thy  Gods,  O  Israel,  who  brought  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt. 

Having  thus,  I  say,  brought  them  to  satisfy  them- 
selves, that  they  worshipped  the  true  God,  and  no  other, 
under  the  figures  and  appearances  which  they  made  to 
represent  him,  it  was  easy  after  that  to  worship  any- 
thing for  the  true  God.  And  thus  in  a  few  ages  they 
worshipped  nothing  but  idols,  even  throughout  the 
whole  world ;  nor  has  the  Devil  lost  his  hold  in  some 
parts  of  the  world,  nay,  not  in  most  parts  of  the  world, 
to  this  day.  He  holds  still  all  the  eastern  parts  of 
Asia,  and  the  southern  parts  of  Africa,  and  the  north- 
ern parts  of  Europe ;  and  in  them  the  vast  countries  of 
China  and  Tartary,  Persia  and  India,  Guinea,  Ethi- 
opia, Zanqnebar,  Congo.  Angola,  Moriomotapa,  &c.  in 
which,  except  Ethiopia,  we  find  no  vestiges  of  any 
other  worship,  but  that  of  idols,  monsters,  and  even 
the  Devil  himself;  till  after  the  coming  of  our  Saviour, 
and  even  then,  if  it  be  true  that  the  gospel  was  preached 
in  the  Indies  and  China  by  St.  Thomas,  and  in  other 
remote  countries  by  other  of  the  Apostles,  we  see  that 
whatever  ground  Satan  lost,  he  seems  to  have  recovered 
it  again  ;  and  all  Asia  and  Africa  is  at  present  overrun 
with  Paganism  or  Mahometanism,  which  I  think  of 
the  two  is  rather  the  worst;  besides  all  America,  a 
part  of  the  world,  as  some  say,  equal  in  bigness  to  all 
the  other,  in  which  the  Devil's  kingdom  was  never  in- 
terrupted from  its  first  being  inhabited,  whenever  it 
was,  to  the  first  discovery  of  it  by  the  European  nations 
in  the  sixteenth  century. 

In  a  word,  the  Devil  got  what  we  may  call  an  en- 
tire victory  over  mankind,  and  drove  the  worship  of 
the  true  God,  in  a  manner,  quite  out  of  the  world, 
forcing,  as  it  were,  his  Maker,  in  a  new  kind  of 
Creation,  the  old  one  proving  thus  ineffectual,  to  re- 
cover a  certain  number  by  force,  and  mere  omnipotence, 
to  return  to  their  duty,  serve  him,  and  worship  him. 
But  of  that  hereafter. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  125 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Of  Gods  calling  a  church  out  of  the  midst  of  a  de- 
generate world;  and  of  Satan'' s  new  measures  upon 
that  incident.  How  he  attacked  them  immediately  ; 
and  his  success  in  those  attacks. 

SATAN  having,  as  I  have  said  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, made,  as  it  were,  a  full  conquest  of  mankind;  de- 
bauched them  all  to  idolatry  ;  and  brought  them  at 
least  to  worship  the  true  God  by  the  wretched  medium 
of  corrupt  and  idolatrous  representations;  God  seemed 
to  have  no  true  servants  or  worshippers  left  in  the 
world ;  but  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  speak  so,  was 
obliged,  in  order  to  restore  the  world  to  their  senses 
again,  to  call  a  select  number  out  from  among  the  rest, 
who  he  himself  undertook  should  own  his  godhead,  or 
supreme  authority,  and  worship  him  as  he  required  to 
be  worshipped.  This,  I  say,  God  was  obliged  to  do, 
because  it  is  evident  it  has  not  been  done  so  much  by 
the  choice  and  counsel  of  men,  for  Satan  would  have 
overruled  that  part,  as  by  the  power  and  energy  of 
some  irresistible  and  invincible  operation,  and  this  our 
Divines  give  high  names  to;  but  be  it  what  they  will, 
it  is  the  second  defeat  or  disappointment  that  the  Devil 
has  met  with  in  his  progress  in  the  world ;  the  first  I 
have  spoken  of  already. 

It  is  true,  Satan  very  well  understood  what  was 
threatened  to  him  in  the  original  promise  to  the  Woman 
immediately  after  the  fall;  namely,  Thou  shalt  bruise 
his  head,  &c.,  but  he  did  not  expect  it  so  suddenly,  but 
thought  himself  sure  of  mankind,  till  the  fulness  of 
time  when  the  Messiah  should  come;  and  therefore  it 
Avas  a  great  surprise  to  him,  to  see  that  Abraham, 
being  called,  was  so  immediately  received  and  estab- 
lished, though  he  did  not  so  immediately  follow  the 
voice  that  directed  him,  yet  in  him,  in  his  loins,  was  all 
God's  church  at  that  time  contained. 

In  the  calling  Abraham,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  there 
was  no  other  way  for  God  to  form  a  church,  that  is  to 
11* 


126  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

say,  to  single  out  a  people  to  himself,  as  the  world  was 
then  stated,  but  by  immediate  revelation,  arid  a  voice 
from  heaven.  All  mankind  were  gone  over  to  the 
enemy,  overwhelmed  in  idolatry:  in  a  word  were  en- 
gaged to  the  Devil ;  God  Almighty,  or,  as  the  Scrip- 
ture distinguishes  him,  the  Lord,  the  true  God,  was 
out  of  the  question;  mankind  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
him;  much  less  did  they  know  anything  of  his  wor- 
ship, or  that  there  was  such  a  being  in  the  world. 

Well  might  it  be  said  the  Lord  appeared  to  Abraham, 
Gen.  xii.  7,  for  if  God  had  not  appeared  himself,  he 
must  have  sent  a  messenger  from  heaven;  and  per- 
haps it  was  so  too,  for  he  had  not  one  true  servant  or 
worshipper  that  we  know  of  then  on  earth,  to  send  on 
that  errand;  no  prophet,  no  preacher  of  righteousness. 
Noah  was  dead,  and  had  been  so  above  seventeen 
years ;  and  if  he  had  not,  his  preaching,  as  I  observed, 
after  his  great  miscarriage,  had  but  little  effect.  We 
are  indeed  told  that  Noah  left  behind  him  certain  rules 
and  orders  for  the  true  worship  of  God,  which  were 
called  the  precepts  of  Noah,  and  remained  in  the  world 
for  a  long  time ;  though  how  written,  when  neither 
any  letters,  much  less  writing,  were  known  in  the 
world,  is  a  difficulty  which  remains  to  be  solved  ;  and 
this  makes  me  look  upon  those  laws  called  the  precepts 
of  Noah  to  be  a  modern  invention,  as  I  do  also  the 
Alphabetum  Noachi,  which  Bochart  pretends  to  give 
an  account  of. 

But  to  leave  that  fiction  and  come  back  to  Abraham; 
God  called  him,  whether  at  first  by  voice  without  any 
vision,  whether  in  a  dream,  or  night  vision,  which  was 
very  significant  in  those  days,  or  whether  by  some 
awful  appearance,  we  know  not;  the  second  time,  it  is 
indeed  said  expressly,  God  appeared  to  him.  Be  it 
which  way  it  will,  God  himself  called  him,  showed 
him  the  land  of  Canaan,  gave  him  the  promise  of  it 
for  his  posterity,  and  withal  gave  him  such  a  faith, 
that  the  Devil  soon  found  there  was  no  room  for  him 
to  meddle  with  Abraham.  This  is  certain,  we  do  not 
read  that  the  Devil  ever  so  much  as  attempted  Abra- 
ham at  all.  Some  will  suggest  that  the  command  to 
Abraham  to  go  and  offer  up  his  son  Isaac,  was  a  temp- 
tation of  the  Devil,  if  possible,  to  defeat  the  glorious 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  127 

work  of  God's  calling  an  holy  seed  into  the  world. 
For  the  first,  if  Abraham  had  disobeyed  that  call,  the 
new  favorite  had  been  overcome,  arid  made  a  rebel  of; 
or,  secondly,  if  he  had  obeyed,  then  the  promised  seed 
had  been  cut  off,  and  Abraham  defeated  ;  but  as  the 
text  is  express,  that  God  himself  proposed  it  to  Abra- 
ham, I  shall  not  start,  the  suggestions  of  the  critics,  in 
bar  of  the  sacred  oracle. 

Be  it  one  way  or  other,  Abraham  showed  an  hero- 
like  faith  and  courage;  and,  if  the  Devil  had  been  the 
author  of  it,  he  had  seen  himself  disappointed  in  both 
his  views;  1,  by  Abraham's  ready  and  bold  compli- 
ance, as  believing  it  to  be  God's  command;  and  2,  by 
the  divine  countermand  of  the  execution,  just  as  the 
fatal  knife  was  lifted  up. 

But  if  the  Devil  left  Abraham,  and  made  no  attack 
upon  him,  seeing  him  invulnerable,  he  made  himself 
amends  upon  the  other  branch  of  his  family,  his  poor 
nephew  Lot;  who,  notwithstanding  he  was  so  imme- 
diately under  the  particular  care  of  heaven,  as  that 
the  angel  who  was  sent  to  destroy  Sodom,  could  do 
nothing  till  he  was  out  of  it ;  and  who,  though  after  he 
had  left  Zoar,  and  was  retired  into  a  cave  to  dwell, 
yet  the  subtle  Devil  found  him  out,  deluded  his  two 
daughters,  took  an  advantage  of  the  fright  they  had 
been  in  about  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  made  them 
believe  the  whole  world  was  burnt  too,  as  well  as 
those  cities,  and  that,  in  short,  they  could  never  have 
any  husbands,  &c.,  and  so,  in  their  abundant  concern 
to  repeople  the  world,  and  that  the  race  of  mankind 
might  not  be  destroyed,  they  go  and  lie  with  their  own 
father;  the  Devil  telling  them  doubtless  how  to  do  it, 
by  intoxicating  his  head  with  wine  ;  in  all  which 
story,  whether  they  were  not  as  drunk  as  their  father, 
seems  to  be  a  question ;  or  else  they  could  not  have 
supposed  all  the  men  in  the  earth  were  consumed, 
when  they  knew  that  the  little  city  Zoar  had  been 
preserved  for  their  sakes. 

This  now  was  the  third  conquest  Satan  obtained  by 
the  gust  of  human  appetite ;  that  is  to  say,  once  by 
eating,  and  twice  by  drinking,  or  drunkenness;  and 
still  the  last  was  the  worst,  and  most  shameful ;  for 


128  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Lot,  however  his  daughters  managed  him,  could  not 
pretend  he  did  not  understand  what  the  strength  of 
wine  was;  and  one  would  have  thought,  after  so  terri- 
ble a  judgment  as  that  of  Sodom  was,  which  was,  as 
we  may  say,  executed  before  his  face,  his  thoughts 
should  have  been  too  solemnly  engaged  in  praising 
God  for  sparing  his  life,  to  be  made  drunk,  and  that 
two  nights  together. 

But  the  Devil  played  his  game  sure,  he  set  his  two 
daughters  to  work  ;  and  as  the  Devil's  instruments 
seldom  fail,  so  he  secured  his  by  that  hellish  stratagem 
of  deluding  the  daughters  to  think  all  the  world  was 
consumed  but  they  two,  and  their  father.  To  be  sure 
the  old  man  could  not  suspect  that  his  daughters' 
design  was  so  wicked  as  indeed  it  was,  or  that  they 
intended  to  debauch  him  with  wine,  and  make  him 
drink  till  he  knew  not  what  he  did. 

Now  the  Devil,  having  carried  his  game  here, 
gained  a  great  point  ;  for  as  there  were  but  two 
religious  families  in  the  world  before,  from  whence  a 
twofold  generation  might  be  supposed  to  rise,  religious 
and  righteous  like  their  parents,  namely,  that  of  Abra- 
ham, and  this  of  Lot ;  this  crime  ruined  the  hopes  of 
one  of  them ;  it  could  no  more  be  said  that  just  Lot 
was  in  being,  who  vexed  his  righteous  soul  from  day 
to  day  with  the  wicked  behavior  of  the  people  of 
Sodom  ;  righteous  Lot  was  degenerated  into  drunken, 
incestuous  Lot,  Lot  fallen  from  what  he  was,  to  be  a 
wicked  and  unrighteous  man  ;  no  pattern  of  virtue,  no 
reprover  of  the  age,  but  a  poor,  fallen,  degenerate 
patriarch,  who  could  now  no  more  reprove  or  exhort, 
but  look  down  and  be  ashamed,  and  nothing  to  do 
but  to  repent ;  and  see  the  poor  mean  excuses  of  all 
the  three  : 

Eve  says,  "  The  serpent  beguiled  me,  and  I  did 
eat." 

Noah  says,  " my  grandson  beguiled  me,  or 

the  wine  beguiled  me,  and  I  did  drink." 

Lot  says,  "  My  daughters  beguiled  me,  and  I  also 
did  drink." 

It  is  observable,  that,  as  I  said  before,  Noah  was 
silenced,  and  his  preaching  at  an  end,  after  that  one 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   DEVIL.  129 

action,  so  the  like  may  be  said  of  Lot ;  and,  in  short, 
you  never  hear  one  more  word  of  either  of  them  after 
it;  as  for  mankind,  both  were  useless  to  them;  and 
as  to  themselves,  we  never  read  of  any  of  their  repent- 
ance, nor  have  we  much  reason  to  believe  they  did 
repent. 

From  this  attack  of  the  Devil  upon  Lot,  we  hear 
no  more  of  the  Devil  being  so  busily  employed  as  he 
had  been  before  in  the  world ;  he  had  indeed  but  little 
to  do ;  for  all  the  rest  of  the  world  was  his  own, 
lulled  asleep  under  the  witchcraft  of  idolatry,  and  are 
so  still. 

But  it  could  not  be  long  that  the  Devil  lay  idle;  as 
soon  as  God  called  himself  a  people,  the  Devil  could 
not  be  at  rest  till  he  attacked  them. 

"  Wherever  God  sets  up  an  house  of  prayer, 
The  Devil  always  builds  a  chapel  there." 

Abraham  indeed  went  off  the  stage  free,  and  so  did 
Isaac  too  ;  they  were  a  kind  of  first-rate  saints  ;  we  do 
not  so  much  as  read  of  any  failing  they  had,  or  of  any- 
thing the  Devil  had  ever  the  face  to  offer  to  them ;  no, 
or  with  Jacob  either,  if  you  will  excuse  him  for  beguil- 
ing his  brother  Esau  of  both  his  birthright  and  his 
blessing;  but  he  was  busy  enough  with  all  his  chil- 
dren ;  for  example, 

He  sent  Judah  to  his  sheep-shearing,  and  placed 
Tamar  in  his  way,  in  the  posture  of  temptation  ;  so 
made  him  commit  incest. 

He  sent  incestuous  Reuben  to  take  his  father's  con- 
cubine, Bilhah. 

He  sent  Dinah  to  the  ball,  to  dance  with  the  She- 
chernite  ladies,  and  play  the  sinner  with  their  master. 

He  enraged  Simeon  and  Levi  at  the  supposed 
injury,  and  then  prompted  them  to  revenge ;  for  which 
their  father  heartily  cursed  them. 

He  set  them  all  together  to  fall  upon  poor  Joseph, 
first  to  murder  him  intentionally,  and  then  actually 
sell  him  to  the  Midianites. 

He  made  them  show  the  party-colored  coat,  and  tell 
a  lie  to  their  father,  to  make  the  poor  old  man  believe 
Joseph  was  killed  by  a  lion,  &c. 


130  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

He  sent  Potiphar's  wife  to  attack  Joseph's  chastity, 
and  filled  her  with  rage  at  the  disappointment. 

He  taught  Joseph  to  swear  by  the  life  of  Pharaoh. 

In  a  word,  he  debauched  the  whole  race,  except 
Benjamin  ;  and  never  man  had  such  a  set  of  sons  ;  so 
wicked,  and  so  notorious,  after  so  good  an  introduction 
into  the  world  as  they  all  of  them  had,  to  be  sure;  for 
Jacob,  no  doubt,  gave  them  as  good  instruction  as  the 
circumstances  of  his  wandering  condition  would  allow 
him  to  do. 

We  must  now  consider  the  Devil  and  his  affairs  in 
a  quite  differing  situation.  When  the  world  first 
appeared  peopled  by  the  creating  power  of  God,  he 
had  only  Adam  and  Eve  to  take  care  of,  and  I  think 
he  plied  his  time  with  them  to  purpose  enough.  After 
the  deluge  he  had  Noah  only  to  pitch  upon,  and  he 
quickly  conquered  him  by  the  instigation  of  his  grand- 
son. 

At  the  building  of  Babel  he  guided  them  by  their 
acting  all  in  a  body,  as  one  man ;  so  that,  in  short,  he 
managed  them  with  ease,  taking  them  as  a  body 
politic  ;  and  we  find  they  came  into  his  snare  as  one 
man;  but  now,  the  children  of  Israel  multiplying  in 
the  land  of  their  bondage,  and  God  seeming  to  show  a 
particular  concern  for  them,  the  Devil  was  obliged  to 
new  measures,  stand  at  a  distance,  and  look  on  for 
some  time. 

The  Egyptians  were  plagued  even  without  his  help; 
for,  though  the  cunning  artist,  as  I  said,  stood  and 
looked  on,  yet  he  durst  not  meddle  ;  nor  could  he 
make  a  few  lice,  the  least  and  meanest  of  the  armies 
of  insects  raised  to  afflict  the  Egyptians. 

However,  when  he  perceived  that  God  resolved  to 
bring  the  Israelites  out,  he  prepared  to  attend  them,  to 
watch  them,  and  be  at  hand  upon  all  the  wicked 
occasions  that  might  offer;  as  if  he  had  been  fully  sat- 
isfied such  occasions  would  offer,  and  that  he  should 
not  fail  to  have  an  opportunity  to  draw  them  into 
some  snare  or  other ;  and  that  therefore  it  was  his 
business  not  to  be  out  of  the  way,  but  to  be  ready  (as 
we  say)  to  make  his  market  of  them  in  the  best  man- 
ner he  could.  How  many  ways  he  attempted  them, 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL.  131 

nay,  how  many  times  he  conquered  them  in  their 
journey,  we  shall  see  presently. 

First  he  put  them  in  a  fright  at  Baal-Zephon, 
where  he  thought  he  had  drawn  them  into  a  noose, 
and  where  he  sent  Pharaoh  and  his  army  to  block 
them  up  between  the  mountains  of  Pihahiroth  and  the 
Red  Sea  ;  but  there  indeed  Satan  was  outwitted  by 
Moses,  so  far  ajs  it  appeared  to  be  an  human  action  ; 
for  he  little  thought  of  their  going  dry-footed  through 
the  sea,  but  depended  upon  having  them  all  cut  in 
pieces  the  next  morning  by  the  Egyptians  ;  an  eminent 
proof,  by  the  way,  that  the  Devil  has  no  knowledge 
of  events,  or  any  insight  into  futurity;  nay,  that  he 
has  not  so  much  as  a  second  sight,  or  knows  to-day 
what  his  Maker  intends  to  do  to-morrow;  for  had 
Satan  known  that  God  intended  to  ford  them  over  the 
sea,  if  he  had  not  been  able  to  have  prevented  the 
miracle,  he  would  certainly  have  prevented  the  escape, 
by  sending  out  Pharaoh  and  his  army  time  enough  to 
have  taken  the  strand  before  them,  and  so  have  driven 
them  to  the  necessity  of  travelling  on  foot  round  the 
north  point  of  that  sea,  by  the  wilderness  of  Etan, 
where  he  would  have  pursued  and  harassed  them  with 
his  cavalry,  and  in  all  probability  have  destroyed 
them  :  but  the  blind,  short-sighted  Devil,  perfectly  in 
the  dark,  and  unacquainted  with  futurity,  knew 
nothing  of  the  matter,  was  as  much  deceived  as 
Pharaoh  himself,  stood  still,  flattering  himself  with 
the  hopes  of  his  booty,  and  the  revenge  he  should  take 
upon  them  the  next  morning ;  till  he  saw  the  frighted 
waves  in  an  uproar,  and  to  his  utter  astonishment  and 
confusion,  saw  the  passage  laid  open,  and  Moses  lead- 
ing his  vast  army  in  full  march  over  the  dry  space; 
nay,  even  then  it  is  very  probable  Satan  diAnot  know 
that  if  the  Egyptians  followed  them,  the  sea  would 
return  upon  and  overwhelm  them  ;  for  I  can  hardly 
think  so  hard  of  the  Devil  himself,  that  if  he  had,  he- 
would  have  suffered,  much  less  prompted  Pharaoh  to 
follow  the  chase  at  such  an  expense  ;  so  that  either  he 
must  be  an  ignorant,  unforeseeing  Devil,  or  a  very  un- 
grateful, false  Devifto  his  friends  the  Egyptians. 

I  am  inclined  ~also  to  the  more  charitable  opinion  of 
Satan  too,  because  the  escape  of  the  Israelites  was 


132  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL. 

really  a  triumph  over  himself;  for  the  war  was  cer- 
tainly his,  or  at  least  he  was  auxiliary  to  Pharaoh  ;  it 
was  a  victory  over  hell  arid  Egypt  together ;  and  he 
would  never  have  suffered  the  disgrace,  if  he  had 
known  it  beforehand  ;  that  is  to  say,  though  he  could 
not  have  prevented  the  escape  of  Israel,  or  the  dividing 
the  water,  yet  he  might  have  warned  the  Egyptians, 
and  cautioned  them  not  to  venture  in  after  them. 

But  we  shall  see  a  great  many  weak  steps  taken  by 
the  Devil  in  the  affair  of  this  very  people,  and  their 
forty  years'  wandering  in  the  wilderness  ;  and,  though 
he  was  in  some  things  successful,  and  wheedled  them 
into  many  foolish  and  miserable  murmurings  and 
wranglings  against  God,  and  mutinies  against  poor 
Moses,  yet  the  Devil  was  oftentimes  balked  and  dis- 
appointed ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  I  choose  to 
finish  the  first  part  of  his  history  with  the  particular 
relation  of  his  behavior  among  the  Jews,  because  also 
we  do  not  find  any  extraordinary  things  happening 
anywhere  else  in  the  world  for  above  one  thousand 
five  hundred  years,  no  variety,  no  revolutions  ;  all  the 
rest  of  mankind  lay  still  under  his  yoke,  quietly  sub- 
mitted to  his  government,  did  just  as  he  bade  them, 
worshipped  every  idol  he  set  up.  and,  in  a  word,  he 
had  no  difficulty  with  any  body  but  the  Jews ;  and, 
for  this  reason,  I  say,  this  part  of  his  story  will  be  the 
more  useful  and  instructing. 

To  return  therefore  to  Moses,  and  his  dividing  the 
Red  Sea  ;  that  the  people  went,  over  or  through  it,  that 
we  have  the  sacred  history  for ;  but  how  the  Devil 
behaved,  that  you  must  come  to  me  for,  or  I  know  not 
where  you  will  find  a  true  account  of  it,  at  least  not 
in  print. 

1.  It  was  in  the  night  they  marched  through  ; 
whether  the  Devil  saw  it  in  the  dark  or  no,  that  is  not 
my  business. 

But  when  he  had  day-light  for  it,  and  viewed  the 
next  day's  work,  I  make  no  question  but  all  hell  felt 
the  surprise,  the  prey  being  thus  snatched  out  of  their 
hands  unexpectedly.  It  is  true  the  Egyptians'  host  was 
sent  to  him  in  their  room  ;  but  that  was  not  what  he 
aimed  at;  for  he  was  sure  enough  of  them  his  own 
way,  and  if  it  was  not  just  at  that  time,  yet  he  knew 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE    DEVIL.  133 

what  and  who  they  were ;  but  as  he  had  devoured  the 
whole  Israelitish  host  in  his  imagination,  to  the  tune 
of  at  least  a  million  and  an  half  of  souls ;  men,  women, 
and  children  ;  it  was,  no  doubt,  a  great  disappointment 
to  the  Devil  to  miss  of  his  prey,  and  to  see  them  all 
triumphing  on  the  other  side  in  safety. 

It  is  true,  Satan's  annals  do  not  mention  this  defeat ; 
for  historians  are  generally  backward  to  register  their 
own  misfortunes;  but  as  we  have  an  account  of  the 
fact  from  other  hands,  so  as  we  cannot  question  the 
truth  of  it;  the  nature  of  the  thing  will  tell  us  it  was 
a  disappointment  to  the  Devil,  and  a  very  great  one 
too. 

I  cannot  but  observe  here,  that  I  think  this  part  of 
the  Devil's  story  very  entertaining,  because  of  the 
great  variety  of  incidents  which  appear  in  every  part 
of  it;  sometimes  he  is  like  an  hunted  fox,  curvetting 
and  counter-running  to  avoid  his  being  pursued  and 
found  out,  while  at  the  same  time  he  is  carrying  on  his 
secret  designs  to  draw  the  people  he  pretends  to  man- 
age, into  some  snare  or  other,  to  their  hurt;  at  another 
time,  though  the  comparison  is  a  little  too  low  for  his 
dignity,  like  a  monkey  that  has  done  mischief,  and 
which,  making  his  own  escape,  sits  and  chatters  at  a 
distance,  as  if  he  had  triumphed  in  what  he  had  done; 
so  Satan,  when  he  had  drawn  them  in  to  worship  a 
calf,  to  offer  strange  fire,  to  set  up  a  schism,  and  the 
like ;  and  so  to  bring  the  Divine  vengeance  upon  them- 
selves; leaving  them  in  their  distress,  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance, as  if  he  looked  on  with  satisfaction  to  see  them 
burnt,  swallowed  up,  swept  away,  and  the  like;  as 
the  several  stories  relate. 

His  indefatigable  vigilance  is,  on  the  other  hand,  an 
useful  caveat,  as  Avell  as  an  improving  view  to  us;  no 
sooner  is  he  routed  and  exposed,  defeated  and  disap- 
pointed in  one  enterprize,  but  he  begins  another,  and, 
like  a  cunning  gladiator,  warily  defends  himself,  and 
boldly  attacks  his  enemy  at  the  same  time.  Thus  we 
see  him  up  and  down,  conquering  and  conquered, 
through  this  whole  part  of  his  story,  till,  at  last,  he 
receives  a  total  defeat;  of  which  you  shall  hear  in  its 
place.  In  the  mean  time,  let  us  take  up  his  story  again 
at  the  Red  Sea,  where  he  received  a  great  blow,  instead 
12 


134  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL. 

of  which  he  expected  a  complete  victory ;  for,  doubtless, 
the  Devil  and  the  king  of  Egypt  too,  thought  of  nothing 
but  conquest  at  Pihahiroth. 

However,  though  the  triumph  of  the  Israelites  over 
the  Egyptians  must  needs  be  a  great  mortification  to 
the  Devil,  and  exasperated  him  very  much,  yet  the 
consequence  was  only  this;  namely,  that  Satan,  like 
an  enemy  who  is  balked  and  defeated,  but  not  over- 
come, redoubles  his  rage,  and  reinforces  his  army,  and 
what  the  Egyptians  could  not  do  for  him,  he  resolves 
to  do  for  himself.  In  order  then  to  take  his  opportu- 
nity for  what  mischief  might  offer,  being  defeated,  and 
provoked,  I  say,  at  the  slur  that  was  put  upon  him.  he 
resolves  to  follow  them  into  the  wilderness,  and  many 
a  vile  prank  he  played  them  there ;  as  first,  he  straitens 
them  for  water,  and  makes  them  murmur  against  God, 
and  against  Moses,  within  a  very  few  days,  nay,  hours, 
of  their  great  deliverance  of  all. 

Nor  was  this  all,  but  in  less  than  one  year  more  we 
find  them  (at  his  instigation  too)  setting  up  a  golden 
calf,  arid  making  all  the  people  dance  about  it  at 
Mount  Sinai ;  even  when  God  himself  had  but  just 
before  appeared  to  them  in  the  terrors  of  a  burning  fire 
upon  the  top  of  the  mountain ;  and  what  was  the  pre- 
tence? Truly,  nothing  but  that  they  had  lost  Moses, 
who  used  to  be  their  guide,  and  he  had  hid  himself  in 
the  mount,  and  had  not  been  seen  in  forty  days ;  so 
that  they  could  not  tell  what  was  become  of  him. 
This  put  them  all  into  confusion.  A  poor  pretence 
indeed,  to  turn  them  all  back  to  idolatry !  But  the 
watchful  Devil  took  the  hint,  pushed  the  advantage, 
and  insinuated,  that  they  should  never  see  Moses 
again ;  that  he  was  certainly  devoured  by  venturing 
too  near  the  flashes  of  fire  in  the  mount,  and  presum- 
ing upon  the  liberty  he  had  taken  before.  In  a  word, 
that  God  had  destroyed  Moses,  or  he  was  starved  to 
death  for  want  of  food,  having  been  forty  days  and 
forty  nights  absent. 

All  these  were,  it  is  true,  in  themselves  most  foolish 
suggestions,  considering  Moses  was  admitted  to  the 
vision  of  God,  and  that  God  had  been  pleased  to  appear 
to  him  in  the  most  intimate  manner;  that,  as  they 
might  depend  God  would  not  destroy  his  faithful  ser- 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   DEVIL.  135 

vant,  so  they  might  have  concluded  he  was  ahle  to 
support  his  being  without  food  as  long  as  he  thought 
fit.  But  to  a  people  so  easy  to  believe  anything,  what 
could  be  too  gross  for  the  Devil  to  persuade  them  to? 

A  people  who  could  dance  round  a  calf,  and  call  it 
their  God,  might  do  anything;  that  could  say  to  one 
another,  that  this  was  the  Great  Jehovah,  that 
brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  that 
within  so  few  days  after  God's  miraculous  appearance 
to  them,  and  for  them  ;  I  say,  such  a  people  were 
really  fitted  to  be  imposed  upon,  nothing  could  be  too 
gross  for  them. 

This  was  indeed  his  first  considerable  experiment 
upon  them  as  a  people,  or  as  a  body;  and  the  truth  is, 
his  affairs  required  it;  for  Satan,  who  had  been  a  suc- 
cessful Devil  in  most  of  his  attempts  upon  mankind, 
could  hardly  doubt  of  success  in  anything  after  he  had 
carried  his  point  at  Mount  Sinai.  To  bring  them  to 
idolatry  in  the  very  face  of  their  deliverer,  and  just 
after  the  deliverance !  It  was  more  astonishing  in  the 
main  than  even  their  passing  the  Red  Sea.  In  a  word, 
the  Devil's  whole  history  doth  not  furnish  us  with  a 
story  equally  surprising. 

And  how  was  poor  Aaron  bewildered  in  it  too  !  He 
that  was  Moses'  partner  in  all  the  great  things  that 
Moses  did  in  Pharaoh's  sight,  and  that  was  appointed 
to  be  his  assistant  and  oracle,  or  orator  rather,  upon  all 
public  occasions ;  that  he,  above  all  the  rest,  should 
come  into  this  absurd  and  ridiculous  proposal,  he  that 
was  singled  out  for  the  sacred  priesthood,  for  him  to 
defile  his  holy  hands  with  a  polluted  abominable  sacri- 
fice, and  with  making  the  idol  for  them  too  (for  it  is 
plain  that  he  made  it,)  how  monstrous  it  was  ! 

And  see  what  an  answer  he  gives  to  his  brother 
Moses,  how  weak  !  how  simple  !  I  did  so  and  so,  in- 
deed; I  bade  them  bring  the  ear-rings,  &c.,  and  I  cast 
the  gold  into  the  fire,  and  it  ca'me  out  this  calf.  Ridi- 
culous !  as  if  the  calf  came. out  by  mere  fortuitous  ad- 
venture, without  a  mould  to  cast  it  in :  which  could 
not  be  supposed.  And  if  it  had  not  come  out  so  with- 
out a  mould,  Moses  would  certainly  have  known  of  it. 
Had  Aaron  been  innocent,  he  would  have  answered 
after  quite  another  manner,  and  told  Moses  honestly, 


136  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

that  the  whole  body  of  the  people  came  to  him  in  a 
fright,  that  they  forced  him  to  make  them  an  idol  ; 
which  he  did,  by  making  first  the  proper  mould  to 
cast  it  in,  and  then  taking  the  proper  rnetal  to  cast  it 
from.  That  indeed  he  had  sinned  in  so  doing,  but  that 
he  was  mobbed  into  it,  and  the  people  terrified  him, 
perhaps  they  threatened  to  kill  him;  and,  if  he  had 
added,  that  the  Devil,  prompting  his  fear,  beguiled 
him,  he  had  said  nothing  but  what  was  certainly  true; 
for  if  it  was  in  Satan's  power  to  make  the  people  inso- 
lent and  outrageous  enough  to  threaten  and  bully  the 
old  venerable  prophet,  (for  he  was  not  yet  a  priest.) 
who  was  the  brother  of  their  oracle  Moses,  and  had 
been  partner  with  him  in  so  many  of  his  commissions ; 
I  say,  if  he  could  bring  up  the  passions  of  the  people 
to  an  height  to  be  rude  and  unmannerly  to  him,  (Aaron.) 
and  perhaps  to  threaten  and  insult  him,  he  may  be 
easily  supposed  to  be  able  to  intimidate  Aaron,  and 
terrify  him  into  a  compliance. 

See  this  cunning  agent,  when  he  has  man's  destruc- 
tion in  his  view,  how  securely  he  acts  !  he  never  wants 
an  handle;  the  best  of  men  have  one  weak  place  or 
other,  and  he  always  finds  it  out,  takes  the  advantage 
of  it,  and  conquers  them  by  one  artifice  or  another; 
only  take  it  with  you  as  you  go,  it  is  always  by  strat- 
agem, never  by  force ;  a  proof  that  he  is  riot  empowered 
to  use  violence.  He  may  tempt,  and  he  does  prevail ; 
but  it  is  all  legerdemain,  it  is  all  craft  and  artifice ;  he 
is  still  diabole,  the  calumniator  and  deceiver,  that  is, 
the  misrepresenter ;  he  misrepresents  man  to  God.  and 
misrepresents  God  to  man ;  also  he  misrepresents 
things  ;  he  puts  false  colors,  and  then  manages  the  eye 
to  see  them  with  an  imperfect  view,  raising  clouds  and 
fogs  to  intercept  our  sight;  in  short,  he  deceives  all 
our  senses,  and  imposes  upon  us  in  things  which 
otherwise  would  be  the  easiest  to  discern  and  judge  of. 

This  indeed  is  in  parf  the  benefit  of  the  Devil's  his- 
tory, to  let  us  see  that  he  has  used  the  same  method 
all  along;  and  that  ever  since  he  has  had  anything  to 
do  with  mankind,  he  has  practised  upon  them  with 
stratagem  and  cunning;  also  it  is  observable  that  he 
has  carried  his  point  better  that  way  than  he  would 
have  done  by  fury  and  violence,  if  he  had  been  allowed 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE    DEVIL.  137 

to  make  use  of  it ;  for  by  his  power  indeed  he  might 
have  laid  the  world  desolate,  and  made  an  heap  of 
rubbish  of  it  long  ago;  but,  as  I  have  observed  before, 
that  would  not  have  answered  his  ends  half  so  well; 
for  by  destroying  men  he  would  have  made  martyrs, 
and  sent  abundance  of  good  men  to  heaven,  who 
would  much  rather  have  died  than  yielded  to  serve 
him,  and,  as  he  aimed  to  have  it,  to  fall  down  and 
worship  him;  I  say,  he  would  have  made  martyrs, 
arid  that  not  a  few.  But  this  was  none  of  Satan's 
business ;  his  design  lies  quite  another  way ;  his  busi- 
ness is  to  make  men  sin,  not  to  make  them  suffer ;  to 
make  devils  of  them,  not  saints;  to  delude  them,  and 
draw  them  away  from  their  Maker,  not  send  them 
away  to  him ;  and  therefore  he  works  by  stratagem, 
not  by  force. 

We  are  now  come  to  his  story,  as  it  relates  to  the 
Jewish  church  in  the  wilderness,  and  to  the  children 
of  Israel  in  their  travelling  circumstances ;  and  this 
was  the  first  scene  of  public  management  that  the 
Devil  had  upon  his  hands  in  the  world  ;  for,  as  I 
have  said,  till  now,  he  dealt  with  mankind  either  in 
their  separate  condition  -one  by  one,  or  else  carried  all 
before  him,  engrossing  whole  nations  in  his  systems 
of  idolatry,  and  overwhelming  them  in  an  ignorant 
destruction. 

But  having  now  a  whole  people  as  it  were  snatched 
away  from  him,  taken  out  of  his  government,  and, 
which  was  still  worse,  having  a  view  of  a  kingdom 
being  set  up  independent  of  him,  and  superior  to  his 
authority,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  he  endeavored 
to  overthrow  them  in  the  infancy  of  their  constitution, 
and  tried  all  possible  arts  to  bring  them  back  into  his 
own  hands  again. 

He  found  them  not  only  carried  away  from  the 
country  where  they  were  even  in  his  clutches,  sur- 
rounded with  idols,  and  where  we  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve the  greatest  part  of  them  were  polluted  with  the 
idolatry  of  the  Egyptians ;  for  we  do  not  read  of  any 
stated  worship  which  they  had  of  their  own  ;  or  if  they 
did  worship  the  true  God,  we  scarce  know  in  what 
manner  they  did  it;  they  had  no  law  given  them, 
nothing  but  the  covenant  of  circumcision,  and  even 
12* 


138  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   t)EVlL. 

Moses  himself  had  not  strictly  observed  that,  till  he 
was  frightened  into  it;  we  read  of  no  sacrifices  among 
them,  no  feasts  were  ordained,  no  solemn  worship  ap- 
pointed ;  and  how,  or  in  what  manner,  they  performed 
their  homage,  we  know  not ;  the  passover  was  not  or- 
dained till  just  at  their  coming  away;  so  that,  there 
was  not  much  religion  among  them,  at  least  that  we 
have  any  account  of;  and  we  may  suppose  the  Devil 
was  pretty  easy  with  them  all  the  while  they  were  in 
the  house  of  their  bondage. 

But  now,  to  have  a  million  of  people  fetched  out  of 
his  hands,  as  it  were  all  at  once,  and  to  have  the  im- 
mediate power  of  heaven  engaged  in  it,  and  that  Satan 
saw  evidently  God  had  singled  them  out  in  a  miracu- 
lous manner  to  favor  them,  and  call  them  his  own ; 
this  alarmed  him  at  once ;  and  therefore  he  resolves  to 
follow  them,  lay  close  siege  to  them,  and  take  all  the 
measures  possible  to  bring  them  to  rebel  against,  and 
disobey  God,  that  he  might  be  provoked  to  destroy 
them ;  and  how  near  he  went  to  bring  it  to  pass,  we 
shall  see  presently. 

This  making  a  calf,  and  paying  an  idolatrous  wor- 
ship to  it  (for  they  acted  the  heathens  and  idolaters, 
not  in  the  setting  up  the  calf  only,  but  in  the  manner 
of  their  worshipping,  namely,  dancing  and  music, 
things  they  had  not  been  acquainted  with  in  the  wor- 
ship of  the  true  God,)  I  mention  here,  to  observe  how 
the  Devil  not  only  imposed  upon  their  principles,  but 
upon  their  senses  too ;  as  if  the  awful  majesty  of  hea- 
ven, whose  glory  they  had  seen  in  mount  Sinai,  where 
they  stood,  and  whose  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  was 
their  guide  and  protection,  would  be  worshipped  by 
dancing  round  a  calf !  and  that  not  a  living  creature, 
or  a  real  calf,  but  the  mere  image  of  a  calf  cast  in  gold, 
or,  as  some  think,  in  brass  gilded  over. 

But  this  was  the  Devil's  way  with  mankind,  namely, 
to  impose  upon  their  senses,  and  bring  them  into  the 
grossest  follies  and  absurdities;  and  then,  having  first 
made  them  fools,  it  was  much  the  easier  making  them 
offenders. 

In  this  very  manner  he  acted  with  them  through  all 
the  course  of  their  wilderness  travels;  for,  as  they 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL.  139 

were  led  by  the  hand  like  children,  defended  by  om- 
nipotence, fed  by  miracles,  instructed  immediately  from 
heaven,  and  in  all  things  had  Moses  for  their  guide; 
they  had  no  room  to  miscarry,  but  by  acting  the  great- 
est absurdities,  and  committing  the  greatest  follies  in 
nature ;  and,  even  these,  the  Devil  brought  them  to  be 
guilty  of,  in  a  surprising  manner.  1.  As  God  himself 
relieved  them  in  every  exigence,  and  supplied  them  in 
every  want,  one  would  think  it  was  impossible  they 
should  be  ever  brought  to  question  either  his  willing- 
ness or  his  ability,  and  yet  they  really  objected  against 
both,  which  was  indeed  very  provoking;  and  1  doubt 
not,  that  when  the  Devil  had  brought  them  to  act  in 
such  a  preposterous  manner,  he  really  hoped  and  be- 
lieved God  would  be  provoked  effectually.  The  testi- 
monies of  his  care  of  them,  and  ability  to  supply  them, 
were  miraculous  and  undeniable  ;  he  gave  them  water 
from  the  rock,  bread  from  the  air,  sent  the  fowls  to 
feed  them  with  flesh,  and  supported  them  all  the  way 
by  miracles ;  their  health  was  preserved,  none  were 
sick  among  them,  their  clothes  did  not  wear  out,  nor 
their  shoes  grow  old  upon  their  feet;  could  anything 
be  more  absurd  than  to  doubt,  whether  he  could  pro- 
vide for  them,  who  had  never  let  them  want  for  so 
many  years? 

But  the  Devil  managed  them  in  spite  of  miracles ; 
nor  did  he  ever  give  them  over  till  he  had  brought 
six  hundred  thousand  of  them  to  provoke  God  so  highly 
that  he  would  not  suffer  above  two  of  them  to  go  into 
the  land  of  promise;  so  that,  in  short,  Satan  gained 
his  point  as  to  that  generation,  for  all  their  carcases 
fell  in  the  wilderness.  Let  us  take  but  a  short  view 
to  what  an  height  he  brought  them,  and  in  what  a 
rude,  absurd  manner  they  acted  ;  how  he  set  them 
upon  murmuring  upon  every  occasion,  now  for  water, 
then  for  bread  ;  nay,  they  murmured  at  their  bread 
when  they  had  it;  "Our  soul  loaths  this  light  bread." 

He  sowed  the  seeds  of  church-rebellion  in  the  sons 
of  Aaron,  and  made  Nadab  and  Abihu  offer  strange 
fire  till  they  were  strangely  consumed  by  fire  for  the 
doing  it. 

He  set  them  a  complaining  at  Taberah,  and  a  lusting 


140  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   DEVIL. 

for  flesh  at  the  first  three  days'  journey  from  mount 
Sinai. 

He  planted  envy  in  the  hearts  of  Miriam  and  Aaron, 
against  the  authority  of  Moses,  to  pretend  God  had 
spoken  by  them  as  well  as  by  him,  till  he  humbled  the 
father,  and  made  a  leper  of  the  daughter. 

He  debauched  ten  of  the  spies,  frighted  them  with 
sham  appearances  of  things,  when  they  went  out  to 
search  the  land;  and  made  them  fright  the  whole 
people  out  of  their  understanding  as  well  as  duty,  for 
which  six  hundred  thousand  of  their  carcases  fell  in 
the  wilderness. 

He  raised  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  and  the  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  princes,  till  he  brought  them  to  be  swal- 
lowed up  alive. 

He  put  Moses  into  a  passion  at  Meribah,  and  ruffled 
the  temper  of  the  meekest  man  upon  earth  ;  by  which 
he  made  both  him  and  Aaron  forfeit  their  share  of  the 
promise,  and  be  shut  out  from  the  holy  land. 

He  raised  a  mutiny  among  them  when  they  travelled 
from  mount  Hor,  till  they  brought  fiery  serpents  among 
them  to  destroy  them. 

He  tried  to  make  Balaam  the  prophet  curse  them ; 
but  there  the  Devil  was  disappointed.  However,  he 
brought  the  Midianites  to  debauch  them  with  women, 
as  in  the  case  of  Zimri  and  Cozbi. 

He  tempted  Achan  with  the  wedge  of  gold,  and  the 
Babylonish  garment,  that  he  might  take  off  the  accursed 
thing,  and  be  destroyed. 

He  tempted  the  whole  people,  not  effectually  to  drive 
out  the  cursed  inhabitants  of  the  land  of  promise,  that 
they  might  remain,  and  be  goads  in  their  sides,  till,  at 
last,  they  often  oppressed  them  for  their  idolatry,  and, 
which  was  worse,  debauched  them  to  idolatry. 

He  prompted  the  Benjamites  to  refuse  satisfaction  to 
the  people,  in  the  case  of  the  wickedness  of  the  men  of 
Gibeah,  to  the  destruction  of  the  whole  tribe,  six  hun- 
dred men  excepted  in  the  rock  Rimmon. 

At  last  he  tempted  them  to  reject  the  theocracy  of 
their  Maker,  and  call  upon  Samuel  to  make  them  a 
king ;  and  most  of  those  kings  he  made  plagues  and 
sorrows  to  them  in  their  time,  as  you  shall  hear  in 
their  order. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Thus  he  plagued  the  whole  body  of  the  people  con- 
tinually, making  them  sin  against  God,  and  bring 
judgments  upon  themselves,  to  the  consuming  some 
millions  of  them,  first  and  last,  by  the  vengeance  of 
their  Maker. 

As  he  did  with  the  whole  congregation,  so  he  did 
with  their  rulers,  and  several  of  the  judges,  who  were 
made  instruments  to  deliver  the  people;  yet  were 
drawn  into  snares  by  this  subtle  serpent,  to  ruin  them- 
selves, or  the  people  they  had  delivered. 

He  tempted  Gideon  to  make  an  ephod  contrary 
to  the  law  of  the  tabernacle;  and  made  the  children 
of  Israel  go  a  whoring  (that  is,  a  worshipping,)  after  it. 

He  tempted  Samson  to  debauch  himself  with  an 
harlot,  and  betray  his  own  happy  secret  to  a  harlot, 
at  the  expense  of  both  his  eyes,  and  at  last,  of  his 
life. 

He  tempted  Eli's  sons  to  sin  at  the  very  doors  of  the 
tabernacle,  when  they  came  to  bring  their  offerings  to 
the  priest ;  and  he  tempted  poor  Eli  to  connive  at  them, 
or  not  sufficiently  reprove  them. 

He  tempted  the  people  to  carry  the  ark  of  God  into 
the  camp,  that  it  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Phi- 
listines. And 

He  tempted  Uzzah  to  reach  out  his  hand  to  hold  it 
up;  as  if  he  that  had  preserved  it  in  the  house  of  Da- 
gon  the  idol  of  the  Philistines,  could  not  keep  it  from 
falling  out  of  the  cart. 

When  the  people  had  gotten  a  king,  he  immediately 
set  to  work  in  divers  ways  to  bring  that  king  to  load 
them  with  plagues  and  calamities  not  a  few. 

He  tempted  Saul  to  spare  the  king  of  Amelek,  con- 
trary to  God's  express  command. 

He  not  only  tempted  Saul,  but  possessed  him  with 
an  evil  spirit,  by  which  he  was  left  to  wayward  dispo- 
sitions, and  was  forced  to  have  it  fiddled  out  of  him 
with  a  minstrel. 

He  tempted  Saul  with  a  spirit  of  discontent,  and 
with  a  spirit  of  envy  at  poor  David,  to  hunt  him  like  a 
partridge  upon  the  mountains. 

He  tempted  Saul  with  a  spirit  of  divination,  and 
sent  him  to  a  witch  to  inquire  of  Samuel  for  him;  as 


143  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

if  God  would  help  him  when  he  was  dead,  that  had 
forsaken  him  when  he  was  alive. 

After  that,  he  tempted  him  to  kill  himself,  on  a  pre- 
tence that  he  might  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  un- 
circnmcised;  as  if  self-murder  was  not  half  so  bad, 
either  for  sin  against  God,  or  disgrace  among  men,  as 
being  taken  prisoner  by  a  Philistine  !  A  piece  of  mad- 
ness none  but  the  Devil  could  have  brought  mankind 
to  submit  to,  though  some  ages  after  that  he  made  it  a 
fashion  among  the  Romans. 

After  Saul  was  dead,  and  David  came  to  the  throne, 
by  how  much  he  was  a  man  chosen  and  particularly 
favored  by  Heaven,  the  Devil  fell  upon  him  with  the 
more  vigor,  attacked  him  so  many  ways,  and  con- 
quered him  so  very  often,  that  as  no  man  was  so  good 
a  king,  so  hardly  any  good  king  was  ever  a  worse 
man;  in  many  cases  one  would  have  almost  thought 
the  Devil  had  made  sport  with  David,  to  show  how 
easily  he  could  overthrow  the  best  man  God  could 
choose  of  the  whole  congregation. 

He  made  him  distrust  his  benefactor  so  much  as  to 
feign  himself  mad  before  the  king  of  Gath,  when  he 
had  fled  to  him  for  shelter. 

He  made  him  march  with  his  four  hundred  cut- 
throats, to  cut  off  poor  Nabal,  and  all  his  household, 
only  because  he  would  not  send  him  the  good  cheer  he 
had  provided  for  his  honest  sheep-shearers. 

He  made  him,  for  his  word's  sake,  give  Ziba  half 
his  master's  estate  for  his  treachery,  after  he  knew  he 
had  been  the  traitor,  and  betrayed  poor  Mephibosheth 
for  the  sake  of  it  ;  in  which 

"  The  good  old  king,  it  seems,  was  very  loth, 
To  break  his  word,  and  therefore  broke  his  oath." 

Then  he  tempted  him  to  the  ridiculous  project  of 
numbering  the  people,  though  against  God's  express 
command ;  a  thing  Joab  himself  was  not  wicked 
enough  to  do,  till  David  and  the  Devil  forced  him 
to  it. 

And  to  make  him  completely  wickepl,  he  carried  him 
to  the  top  of  his  house,  and  showed  him  Uriah's  wife, 
bathing  in  her  garden.  In  which  it  appeared  that  the 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  143 

Devil  knew  David  too  well,  and  what  was  the  parti- 
cular sin  of  his  inclination;  and  so  took  him  by  the 
right  handle;  drawing  him  at  once  into  the  sins  of 
murder  and  adultery. 

Then,  that  he  might  not  quite  give  him  over,  (though 
David's  repentance  for  the  last  sin  kept  the  Devil  off 
for  a  while,)  when  he  could  attack  him  no  farther  per- 
sonally, he  fell  upon  him  in  his  family,  and  made  him 
as  miserable  as  he  could  desire  him  to  be,  in  his  chil- 
dren ;  three  of  whom  he  brought  to  destruction  before 
his  face,  and  another  after  his  death. 

First,  he  tempted  Ammon  to  ravish  his  sister,  Tamar; 
so  there  was  an  end  of  her,  poor  girl,  as  to  this  world ; 
for  we  never  hear  any  more  of  her. 

Then  he  tempted  Absalom  to  murder  his  brother 
Ammon,  in  reveuge  for  Tamar's  virtue. 

Then  he  made  Joab  run  Absalom  through  the  body, 
contrary  to  David's  command. 

And  after  David's  death  he  brought  Adonijah  (weak 
man!)  to  the  block,  for  usurping  king  Solomon's 
throne. 

As  to  Absalom,  he  tempted  him  to  rebellion,  and 
raising  war  against  his  father,  to  the  turning  him 
shamefully  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  almost  out  of  the 
kingdom. 

He  tempted  him  for  David's  farther  mortification, 
to  insult  his  father's  wives,  in  the  face  of  the  whole 
city;  and,  had  Achitophel's  honest  counsel  been  fol- 
lowed, he  had  certainly  sent  him  to  sleep  with  his 
fathers,  long  before  his  time — but  there  Satan  and 
Achitophel  were  both  outwitted  together. 

Through  all  the  reigns  of  the  several  successors  of 
David,  the  Devil  took  care  to  carry  on  his  own  game, 
to  the  continual  insulting  the  measures  which  God 
himself  had  taken  for  the  establishing  his  people  in  the 
world,  and  especially  as  a  church  :  till  at  last  he  so 
effectually  debauched  them  to  idolatry  ;  that  crime 
which  of  all  others  was  most  provoking  to  God,  as  it 
was  carrying  the  people  away  from  their  allegiance, 
and  transposing  the  homage  they  owed  God  their 
Maker,  to  a  contemptible  block  of  wood,  or  an  image 
of  a  brute  beasl . ;  and  this  how  sordid  and  brutish 
soever  it  was  in  itself,  yet  so  did  his  artifice  prevail 


144  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

among  them,  that,  first  or  last,  he  brought  them  all 
into  it,  the  ten  tribes  as  well  as  the  two  tribes;  till,  at 
last,  God  himself  was  provoked  to  unchurch  them, 
gave  them  up  to  their  enemies,  and  the  few  that  were 
left  of  them,  after  incredible  slaughters  and  desolation, 
were  hurried  away,  some  into  Tartary,  and  others  into 
Babylon,  from  whence  very  few,  of  that  few  that  were 
carried  away,  ever  found  their  way  home  again  ;  and 
some,  when  they  might  have  come,  would  not  accept 
of  it,  but  continued  there  to  the  very  coming  of  the 
Messiah.  See  epistles  of  Su  James,  and  of  St.  Peter, 
at  the  beginning. 

But  to  look  a  little  back  upon  this  part  (for  it  cannot 
be  omitted,  it  makes  so  considerable  a  part  of  the 
Devil's  history;)  I  mean  his  drawing  God's  people, 
kings  and  all,  into  all  the  sins  and  mischiefs  which 
gradually  contributed  to  their  destruction  : 

First,  (for  he  began  immediately  with  the  very  best 
and  wisest  of  the  race,)  he  drew  in  King  Solomon,  in 
the  midst  of  all  his  zeal  for  the  building  God's  house, 
and  for  the  making  the  most  glorious  and  magnificent 
appearance  for  God's  worship  that  ever  the  world  saw  • 
I  say,  in  the  middle  of  all  this,  he  drew  him  into  such 
immoderate  and  insatiable  an  appetite  for  fame,  as  to 
set  up  the  first,  and  perhaps  the  greatest  seraglio  that 
ever  any  prince  in  the  world  had,  or  pretended  to  be- 
fore ;  nay,  and  to  bring  it  so  much  into  reputation,  that, 
as  the  text  says,  Seven  hundred  of  them  were  prin- 
cesses; that  is  to  say,  ladies  of  quality:  not  as  the 
grand  signers,  and  great  moguls  (other  princes  of  the 
Eastern  world,)  have  since  practised,  namely,  to  pick 
up  their  most  beautiful  slaves ;  but  these,  it  seems, 
were  women  of  rank,  king's  daughters,  as  Pharaoh's 
daughter,  and  the  daughters  of  the  princes  and  prime 
men  among  the  Moabites,  Ammonites,  Zidonians,  Hit- 
tites,  &c.  1  Kings  xi.  1. 

Nor  was  this  all ;  but  as  he  drew  him  into  the  love 
of  those  forbidden  women  (for  such  they  were,  as  to 
their  nation,  as  well  as  number,)  so  he  ensnared  him 
by  those  women  to  a  familiarity  with  their  worship; 
and  by  degrees  brought  that  famous  prince  (famous 
for  his  wisdom)  to  be  the  greatest  and  most  imposed- 
upon  old  fool  in  the  world  ;  bowing  down  to  those 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  145 

idols  by  the  enticing  of  his  women,  whom  he  had  ab- 
horred and  detested  in  his  youth,  as  dishonoring  that 
God  for  whom,  and  for  whose  worship,  he  had  finished 
and  dedicated  the  most  magnificent  building  and  tem- 
ple in  the  world.  Nothing  but  the  invincible  subtlety 
of  this  arch-devil  could  ever  have  brought  such  a  man 
as  Solomon  to  such  a  degeneracy  of  manners,  and  to 
such  meannesses;  no,  not  his  Devil  himself,  without 
the  assistance  of  his  agents,  nor  the  agents  themselves, 
without  the  Devil  to  help  them. 

As  to  Solomon,  Satan  had  made  conquest  enough 
there;  we  need  hear  no  more  of  him.  The  next  ad- 
vance he  made,  was  in  the  person  of  his  son  Rehoboam. 
Had  not  the  Devil  prompted  his  pride,  and  tyrannical 
humor,  he  would  never  have  given  the  people  such  an 
answer  as  he  did ;  and  when  he  saw  a  fellow  at  the 
head  of  them  too,  who  he  knew  wanted  and  waited  for 
an  occasion  to  raise  a  rebellion,  and  had  ripened  up  the 
people's  humor  to  the  occasion.  Weil  might  the  text 
call  it  listening  to  the  counsel  of  the  young  heads  ; 
that  it  was  indeed  with  a  vengeance  !  but  those  young 
heads  too  were  acted  by  an  old  Devil,  who,  for  his 
craft,  is  called,  as  I  have  observed,  the  old  Serpent. 

Having  thus  paved  the  way,  Jeroboam  revolts.  So 
far  God  had  directed  him  ;  for  the  text  says  expressly, 
speaking  in  the  first  person  of  God  himself,  "This 
thing  is  of  me." 

But  though  God  might  appoint  Jeroboam  to  be  king 
(that  is  to  say,  of  ten  tribes.)  yet  God  did  not  appoint 
him  to  set  up  the  two  calves  in  the  two  extreme  parts 
of  the  land;  namely,  in  Dan,  and  in  Bethel;  that  was 
Jeroboam's  own  doing,  and  done  on  purpose  to  keep 
the  people  from  falling  back  to  Rehoboam,  by  being 
obliged  to  go  to  Jerusalem  to  the  public  worship.  And 
the  text  adds.  "Jeroboam  made  Israel  to  sin."  This 
was  indeed  a  master-piece  of  the  Devil's  policy,  and  it 
was  effectual  to  answer  the  end :  nothing  could  have 
been  more  to  the  purpose.  What  reason  he  had  to 
expect  the  people  would  so  universally  come  into  it, 
and  be  so  well  satisfied  with  a  couple  of  calves,  instead 
of  the  true  worship  of  God  at  Jerusalem ;  or  what 
arts  and  management  he  (Satan)  made  use  of  after- 
wards, to  bring  the  people  in,  to  join  with  such  a  delu- 
13 


146  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   DEVIL. 

sion ;  that  we  find  but  little  of  in  all  the  annals  of 
Satan ;  nor  is  it  much  to  the  case.  It  is  certain  the 
Devil  found  a  strange  kind  of  propensity  to  worship- 
ping idols  rooted  in  the  temper  of  that  whole  people, 
even  from  their  first  breaking  away  from  the  Egyptian 
bondage;  so  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  work 
upon  the  old  stock,  and  propagate  the  crime  that  he 
found  was  so  natural  to  them.  And  this  is  Satan's 
general  way  of  working,  not  with  them  only,  but  with 
us  also,  and  with  all  the  world,  even  then,  and  ever 
since. 

When  he  had  thus  secured  Jeroboam's  revolt,  we 
need  not  trace  him  among  his  successors;  for  the  same 
reason  of  state  that  held  for  the  setting  up  the  calves 
at  Bethel  and  Dan,  held  good  for  the  keeping  them  upr 
to  all  Jeroboam's  posterity;  nor  had  they  one  good 
king  ever  after :  even  Jehu,  who  called  his  friends  to 
come  and  see  his  zeal  for  the  Lord,  and  who  fulfilled 
the  threatenings  of  God  upon  Ahab  and  his  family,  and 
upon  Queen  Jezebel,  and  her  offspring,  and  knew  all  the 
white  that  he  was  executing  the  judgment  of  the  true 
God  upon  an  idolatrous  race ;  yet  he  would  not  part 
with  his  calves,  but  would  have  thought  it  had  been 
parting  with  his  kingdom,  and  that  as  the  people 
would  have  gone  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship,  so  they 
would  at  the  same  time  have  transferred  their  civil 
obedience  to  the  king  of  Judah  (whose  right  it  really 
was,  as  far  as  they  could  claim  by  birth  and  right 
line ;)  so  that,  by  the  way,  Satan  any  more  than  other 
politicians,  is  not  for  the  jus  div'mum  of  lineal  succes- 
sion, or  what  we  call  hereditary  right,  any  farther  than 
serves  for  his  purpose. 

Thus  Satan  ridded  his  hands  of  ten  of  the  twelve 
tribes;  let  us  now  see  how  he  went  on  with  the  rest, 
for  his  work  was  now  brought  into  a  narrower  com- 
pass ;  the  church  of  God  was  now  reduced  to  two 
tribes,  except  a  few  religious  people,  who  separated 
from  the  schism  of  Jeroboam,  and  came  and  planted 
themselves  among  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin. 
The  first  thing  the  Devil  did  after  this,  was  to  foment 
a  war  between  the  two  kings,  while  Judah  was  gov- 
erned by  a  boy  or  youth,  Abijah  by  name;  and  he 
none  of  the  best  neither.  But  God's  time  was  not 


I 

THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  147 

come,  and  the  Devil  received  a  great  disappointment ; 
when  Jeroboam  was  so  entirely  overthrown,  that,  if 
the  records  of  those  ages  do  not  mistake,  no  less  than 
five  hundred  thousand  men  of  Israel  were  killed ;  suck 
a  slaughter,  that  one  would  think  the  army  of  Judah, 
had  they  known  how  to  improve  as  well  as  gain  a 
victory,  might  have  brought  all  the  rest  back  again, 
and  have  entirely  reduced  the  house  of  Jeroboam,  and 
the  ten  tribes  that  followed  him,  to  their  obedience; 
nay,  they  did  take  a  great  deal  of  the  country  from 
them,  and  among  the  rest  Bethel  itself;  and  yet  so 
cunningly  did  Satan  manage,  that  the  king  of  Judah, 
who  was  himself  a  wicked  king,  and  perhaps  an  idol- 
ater in  his  heart,  did  not  take  down  the  golden  calf 
that  Jeroboam  had  there,  no  nor  destroy  the  idolatry 
itself;  so  that,  in  short,  his  victory  signified  nothing. 

From  hence  to  the  captivity,  we  find  the  Devil  busy 
with  the  kings  of  Judah;  especially  the  best  of  them. 
As  for  such  as  Manasseh,  and  those  who  transgressed 
by  the  general  tenor  of  their  lives,  those  he  had  no 
great  trouble  with, 

But  such  as  Asa,  Jehoshaphat,  Hezekiah,  and  Josiah, 
he  hung  about  them,  and  their  courts,  till  he  brought 
every  one  of  them  into  some  mischief  or  other. 

As  first,  good  King  Asa,  of  whom  the  Scripture 
says,  his  heart  was  perfect  all  his  days,  yet  this  subtle 
spirit,  that  could  break  in  upon  him  nowhere  else, 
tempted  him,  when  the  king  of  Israel  came  out  against 
him,  to  send  to  hire  Benhadad,  the  king  of  Syria,  to 
help  him ;  as  if  God,  who  had  before  enabled  him  to 
conquer  the  Ethiopians  with  an  army  of  ten  hundred 
thousand  men,  could  not  have  saved  him  from  the 
king  of  the  ten  tribes. 

In  the  same  manner  he  tempted  Jehoshaphat  to  join 
with  that  wicked  King  Ahab  against  the  king  of  Syria, 
and  also  to  marry  his  son  to  Ahab's  daughter,  which 
was  fatal  to  Jehoshaphat,  and  to  his  posterity. 

Again,  he  tempted  Hezekiah  to  show  all  his  riches 
to  the  king  of  Babylon's  messengers ;  and  who  can 
doubt,  but  that  he  (Satan)  is  to  be  understood  by  the 
wicked  spirit  which  stood  before  the  Lord,  2  Chron. 
xviii.  20,  and  offered  his  service  to  entice  Ahab  the 
king  of  Israel  to  come  out  to  battle,  to  his  ruin,  by 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

being  a  lying  spirit  in  the  months  of  all  his  prophets; 
and  who,  for  that  time,  had  a  special  commission,  as 
he  had  another  time,  in  the  case  of  Job  ?  and  indeed, 
it  was  a  commission  fit  for  nobody  but  the  Devil  : 
"Thou  shait  entice  him,  and  thou  shalt  also  prevail: 
Go  out,  and  do  even  so,"  verse  21. 

Even  good  Josiah  himself,  of  whom  it  is  recorded, 
that  "like  him  there  was  no  king  before  him,  neither 
after  him  arose  there  any  like  him,"  2  Kings  xxiii.  25, 
yet  the  Devil  never  left  him  with  his  machinations, 
till,  finding  he  could  not  tempt  him  to  anything  wicked 
in  his  government,  he  tempted  or  moved  him  to  a 
needless  war  with  the  king  of  Egypt,  in  which  he  lost 
his  life. 

From  the  death  of  this  good  king,  the  Devil  prevailed 
so  with  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews,  and  brought 
them  to  such  an  incorrigible  pitch  of  wickedness,  that 
God  gave  them  up,  forsook  his  habitation  of  glory,  the 
temple,  which  he  suffered  to  be  spoiled  first,  then  burnt 
and  demolished;  destroying  the  whole  nation  of  the 
Jews,  except  a  small  number  that  were  left,  and  those 
the  enemy  carried  away  into  captivity. 

Nor  was  he  satisfied  with  this  general  destruction  of 
the  whole  people  of  Israel,  for  the  ten  tribes  were  gone 
before ;  but  he  followed  them  even  into  their  captivity ; 
those  that  fled  away  to  Egypt,  which  they  tell  us  were 
seventy  thousand,  he  first  corrupted,  and  then  they 
were  destroyed  there,  upon  the  overthrow  of  Egypt, 
by  the  same  king  of  Babylon. 

Also  he  went  very  near  to  have  them  rooted  out. 
Young  and  old,  man,  woman,  and  child,  who  were  in 
captivity  in  Babylon,  by  the  ministry  of  that  true  agent 
of  hell,  Haman,  the  Agagite  ;  but  there  Satan  met  with 
a  disappointment  too,  as  in  the  story  of  Esther,  which 
was  but  the  fourth  that  he  had  met  with,  in  all  his 
management  since  the  creation;  I  say,  there  he  was 
disappointed,  and  his  prime  minister,  Haman,  was  ex- 
alted, as  he  deserved. 

Having  thus  far  traced  the  government  and  domin- 
ion of  the  Devil,  from  the  creation  of  man  to  the 
captivity;  I  think  I  may  call  upon  him  to  set  up  his 
standard  of  universal  empire,  at  that  period;  it  seemed 
just  then  as  if  God  had  really  forsaken  the  earth,  and 


THE    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  149 

given  the  entire  dominion  of  mankind  up  to  his  out- 
rageous enemy  the  Devil  ;  for,  excepting  the  few 
Israelites  which  were  left  in  the  territories  of  the  king 
of  Babylon,  and  they  were  but  a  few,  I  say,  except 
among  them,  there  was  not  one  corner  of  the  world 
left  where  the  true  God  was  called  upon,  or  his 
dominion  so  much  as  acknowledged ;  all  the  world 
was  buried  in  idolatry,  and  that  of  so  many  horrid 
kinds,  that  one  would  think,  the  light  of  reason  should 
have  convinced  mankind,  that  he  who  exacted  such 
bloody  sacrifices  as  that  of  Moloch,  and  such  a  bloody 
cutting  themselves  with  knives,  as  the  priests  of  Baal 
did,  could  not  be  a  God,  a  good  and  beneficent  being, 
but  must  be  a  cruel,  voracious  and  devouring  devil, 
whose  end  was  not  the  good,  but  the  destruction  of 
his  creatures.  But  to  such  a  height  was  the  blind, 
dementated  world  arrived  at  that  time,  that  in  these 
sordid  and  corrupt  ways  they  went  on  worshipping 
dumb  idols,  and  offering  human  sacrifices  to  them  ; 
and,  in  a  word,  committing  all  the  most  horrid  and 
absurd  abominations  that  they  were  capable  of,  or 
that  the  Devil  could  prompt  them  too,  till  heaven  was 
again  put,  as  it  were,  to  the  necessity  of  bringing 
about  a  revolution,  in  favor  of  his  own  forsaken 
people,  by  miracle  and  surprise,  as  he  had  done 
before, 

We  come  therefore  to  the  restoration  or  return  of 
the  captivity.  Had  Satan  been  able  to  have  acted 
anything  by  force,  as  I  have  observed  before,  all  the 
princes  and  powers  of  the  world  having  been,  as  they 
really  were,  at  his  devotion,  he  might  easily  have 
made  use  of  them,  armed  all  the  world  against  the 
Jews,  and  prevented  the  rebuilding  the  temple,  and 
even  the  return  of  the  captivity. 

But  now  the  Devil's  power  manifestly  received  a 
check,  and  the  hand  of  God  appeared  in  it ;  and  that 
he  was  resolved  to  reestablish  his  people  the  Jews,  and 
to  have  a  second  temple  built.  The  Devil  who  knew 
the  extent  of  his  own  power  too  well,  and  what  lim- 
itations were  laid  upon  him,  stood  still,  as  it  were, 
looking  on,  and  not  daring  to  oppose  the  return  of  the 
captivity,  which  he  very  well  knew  had  been  pro- 
phesied, and  would  come  to  pass, 
13* 


150  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

He  did  indeed  make  some  little  opposition  to  the 
building,  and  to  the  fortifying  the  city,  but  as  it  was 
to  no  purpose,  so  he  was  soon  obliged  to  give  it  over; 
and  thus  the  captivity  being  returned,  and  the  temple 
rebuilt,  the  people  of  the  Jews  increased  and  multi- 
plied to  an  infinite  number  and  strength  ;  and  from 
this  time  we  may  say,  the  power  of  the  Devil  rather 
declined  and  decreased,  than  went  on  with  success,  as 
it  had  done  before  :  it  is  true  the  Jews  fell  into  sects 
and  errors,  and  divisions  of  many  kinds,  after  the 
return  from  the  captivity,  and  no  doubt  the  Devil  had 
a  great  hand  in  those  divisions ;  but  he  could  never 
bring  them  back  to  idolatry;  and  his  not  being  able  to 
do  that,  made  him  turn  his  hand  so  many  ways  to 
plague  and  oppress  them ;  as  particularly  by  Antiochus 
the  Great,  who  brought  the  abomination  of  desolation 
into  the  holy  place ;  and  there  the  Devil  triumphed 
over  them  for  some  time ;  but  they  were  delivered 
many  ways,  till  at  last  they  came  peaceably  under  the 
protection  rather  than  the  dominion  of  the  Roman 
empire  :  when  Herod  the  Great  governed  them  as  a 
king,  and  reedified,  nay,  almost  rebuilt  their  temple, 
with  so  great  an  expense  and  magnificence,  that  he 
made  it,  as  some  say,  greater  and  more  glorious  than 
that  of  Solomon's;  though,  that  I  take  to  be  a  great 
fable,  to  say  no  worse  of  it. 

In  this  condition  the  Jewish  church  stood,  when  the 
fullness  of  time,  as  it  is  called  in  scripture,  was 
come  ;  and  the  Devil  was  kept  at  bay,  though  he  had 
made  some  encroachments  upon  them  as  above ;  for 
there  was  a  glorious  remnant  of  saints  among  them, 
such  as  old  Zacharias,  the  father  of  John  the  Baptist, 
and  old  Simeon,  who  waited  for  the  salvation  of 
Israel  ;  I  say,  in  this  condition  the  Jewish  church 
stood  when  the  Messiah  came  into  the  world ;  which 
was  such  another  mortal  stab  to  the  thrones  and  prin- 
cipalities infernal,  as  that  of  which  I  have  spoken 
already,  (chap,  iii.,)  at  the  creation  of  man;  and  there- 
fore, with  this  I  break  off  the  antiquities  of  the  Devil's 
history,  or  the  ancient  part  of  his  kingdom ;  for  from 
hence  downward  we  shall  find  his  empire  has  declined 
gradually ;  and  though,  by  his  wonderful  address,  his 
prodigious  application,  and  the  vigilance  and  fidelity 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  151 

of  his  instruments,  as  well  human  as  infernal  and 
diabolical,  and  of  the  human  as  well  the  ecclesiastic 
as  the  secular,  he  has  many  times  retrieved  what  he 
has  lost,  and  sometimes  bid  fair  for  recovering  the 
universal  empire  he  once  possessed  over  mankind ; 
yet  he  has  been  still  defeated  again,  repulsed,  and 
beaten  back,  and  his  kingdom  has  greatly  declined  in 
many  parts  of  the  world  ;  and  especially  in  the  north- 
ern parts,  except  Great  Britain  ;  and  how  he  has 
politically  maintained  his  interest,  and  increased  his 
dominion  among  the  wise  and  righteous  generation 
that  we  cohabit  with  and  among,  will  be  the  subject 
of  the  modern  part  of  Satan's  history,  and  of  which 
we  are  next  to  give  an  account. 


THE 


MODERN  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL, 


PART    II. 


CHAPTER    I. 

I  HAVE  examined  the  antiquities  of  Satan's  history 
in  the  former  part  of  this  work,  and  brought  his  affairs 
down  from  the  creation,  as  far  as  to  our  blessed  Chris- 
tian times;  especially  to  the  coming  of  the  Messiah, 
when  one  would  think  the  Devil  could  have  nothing 
to  do  among  us.  I  have  indeed  but  touched  at  such 
things  which  might  have  admitted  of  a  farther 
description  of  Satan's  affairs,  and  the  particulars  of 
which  we  may  all  come  to  a  farther  knowledge  of 
hereafter ;  yet  I  think  I  have  spoken  to  the  material 
part  of  his  conduct,  as  it  relates  to  his  empire  in  this 
world.  What  has  happened  to  his  more  sublimated 
government,  and  his  angelic  capacities,  I  shall  have 
an  occasion  to  touch  at  in  several  solid  particulars  #s 
we  go  along. 

The  Messiah  was  now  born,  the  fullness  of  time 
was  come,  that  the  Old  Serpent  was  to  have  his  head 
broken  ;  that  is  to  say,  his  empire  or  dominion  over 
man,  which  he  gained  by  the  fall  of  our  first  father 
and  mother  in  paradise,  received  a  downfall  or  over- 
throw. 

It  is  worth  observing,  in  order  to  confirm  what  I 
have  already  mentioned  of  the  limitation  of  Satan's 
power,  that  not  only  his  angelic  strength  seems  to 
have  received  a  farther  blow  upon  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  God  into  the  world,  but  he  seems  to  have  had 


THE    MODEKN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  163 

a  blow  upon  his  intellects;  his  serpentine  craft  and 
devil-like  subtilty  seems  to  have  been  circumscribed, 
and  cut  short;  and  instead  of  his  being  so  cunning  a 
fellow  as  before,  when,  as  I  said,  it  is  evident  he  out- 
witted all  mankind,  not  only  Eve,  Cain,  Noah,  Lot, 
and  all  the  patriarchs,  but  even  nations  of  men,  and 
that  in  their  public  capacity  ;  and  thereby  led  them 
into  absurd  and  ridiculous  things,  such  as  the  building 
of  Babel,  and  deifying  and  worshipping  their  kings, 
when  dead  and  rotten  ;  idolizing  beasts,  stocks,  stones, 
anything,  and  even  nothing ;  and,  in  a  word,  when  he 
managed  mankind  just  as  he  pleased. 

Now,  and  from  this  time  forward,  he  appeared  a 
weak,  foolish,  ignorant  Devil,  compared  to  what  he 
•was  before.  He  was  upon  almost  every  occasion 
resisted,  disappointed,  balked  and  defeated  ;  especially 
in  all  his  attempts  to  thwart  or  cross  the  mission  and 
ministry  of  the  Messiah,  while  he  was  upon  earth,  and 
sometimes  upon  other  and  very  mean  occasions  too. 

And  first;  how  foolish  a  project  was  it,  and  how 
below  Satan's  celebrated  artifice  in  like  cases,  to  put 
Herod  upon  sending  to  kill  the  poor  innocent  children 
in  Bethlehem,  in  hopes  to  destroy  the  infant  i  for  I 
take  it  for  granted,  it  was  the  Devil  put  into  Herod's 
thoughts  that  execution,  how  simple  and  foolish 
soever;  now  we  must  allow  him  to  be  very  ignorant 
of  the  nativity  himself,  or  else  he  might  easily  have 
guided  his  friend  Herod  to  the  place  where  the  infant 
was. 

This  shows  that  either  the  Devil  is  in  general  igno- 
rant, as  we  ace,  of  what  is  to  come  in  the  world,  before 
it  is  really  come  to  pass ;  and,  consequently,  can  fortell 
nothing,  no  not  so  much  as  our  famous  old  Merlin  or 
Mother  Shipton  did ;  or  else  that  great  event  was  hid 
from  him  by  an  immediate  power  superior  to  his, 
which  I  cannot  think  neither,  considering  how  much 
he  was  concerned  in  it,  and  how  certainly  he  knew 
that  it  was  once  to  come  to  pass. 

But  be  that  as  it  will,  it  is  certain  the  Devil  knew 

nothing  where  Christ  was  born,  or  when ;  nor  was  he 

able  to  direct  Herod  to  find  him  out ;  and  therefore 

put  him  upon  that  foolish,  as  well  as  cruel  order,  to 

3* 


154  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

kill  all  the  children,  that  he  might  be  sure  to  destroy 
the  Messiah  among  the  rest. 

The  next  simple  step  that  the  Devil  took,  and 
indeed  the  most  foolish  one  that  he  could  ever  be 
charged  with,  unworthy  the  very  dignity  of  a  devil,  and 
below  the  understanding  that  he  always  was  allowed 
to  act  with,  was  that  of  coming  to  tempt  the  Messiah 
in  the  wilderness;  it  is  certain,  and  he  owned  it  him- 
self afterwards,  upon  many  occasions,  that  the  Devil 
knew  our  Saviour  to  be  the  Son  of  God ;  and  it  is  as 
certain  that  he  knew,  that  as  such  he  could  have  no 
power  or  advantage  over  him  ;  how  foolish  then  was 
it  in  him  to  attack  him  in  that  manner,  "if  thou  beest 
the  Son  of  God?"  why  he  knew  him  to  be  the  Son  of 
God  well  enough  ;  he  said  so  afterwards,  "  I  know 
thee  who  thou  art,  the  holy  one  of  God  ;"  how  then 
could  he  be  so  weak  a  devil  as  to  say,  if  thou  art,  then 
do  so  and  so  ? 

The  case  is  plain,  the  Devil,  though  he  knew  him 
to  be  the  Son  of  God,  did  not  fully  know  the  mystery 
of  the  incarnation  ;  nor  did  he  know  how  far  the 
inanition  of  Christ  extended,  and  whether,  as  man,  he 
was  not  subject  to  fall  as  Adam  was,  though  his 
reserved  godhead  might  be  still  immaculate  and  pure; 
and  upon  this  foot,  as  he  would  leave  no  method 
untried,  he  attempts  him  three  times,  one  immediately 
after  another  ;  but  then,  finding  himself  disappointed, 
he  fled. 

This  evidently  proves,  that  the  Devil  was  ignorant 
of  the  great  mystery  of  godliness,  as  the  text  calls  it, 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh  ;  and  therefore  made  that 
foolish  attempt  upon  Christ,  thinking  to  have  con- 
quered his  human  nature,  as  capable  of  sin,  which  it 
was  not :  and  at  this  repulse  hell  groaned  ;  the  whole 
army  of  regimented  devils  received  a  wound,  and  felt 
the  shock  of  it;  it  was  a  second  overthrow  to  them; 
they  had  a  long  chain  of  success ;  carried  a  devilish 
conquest  over  the  greatest  part  of  the  creation  of  God : 
but  now  they  were  cut  short,  the  seed  of  the  woman 
was  now  come  to  break  the  serpent's  head ;  that  is,  to 
cut  short  his  power,  to  contract  the  limits  of  his  king- 
dom, and,  in  a  word,  to  dethrone  him  in  the  world. 
No  doubt  the  Devil  received  a  shock ;  for  you  find 


THE   MODERN   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  165 

him,  always  afterward,  crying  out  in  a  horrible  man- 
ner, whenever  Christ  met  with  him,  or  else  very 
humble  and  submissive  ;  as  when  he  begged  leave  to 
go  into  the  herd  of  swine,  a  thing  he  has  often  done 
since. 

Defeated  here,  the  first  stratagem  I  find  him  con- 
cerned in  after  it,  was  his  entering  into  Judas,  and 
putting  him  upon  betraying  Christ  to  the  chief  priest; 
but  here  again  he  was  entirely  mistaken ;  for  he  did 
not  see,  as  much  a  devil  as  he  was,  what  the  event 
would  be.  But,  when  he  came  to  know,  that  if 
Christ  was  put  to  death,  he  would  become  a  propitia- 
tory, and  be  the  great  sacrifice  of  mankind,  so  to 
rescue  the  fallen  race  from  that  death  they  had 
incurred  the  penalty  of,  by  the  fall ;  that  this  was  the 
fulfilling  of  all  scripture  prophecy;  and  that  thus  it 
was  that  Christ  was  to  be  the  end  of  the  law ;  I  say, 
as  soon  as  he  perceived  this,  he  strove  all  he  could  to 
prevent  it,  and  disturbed  Pilate's  wife  in  her  sleep,  in 
order  to  set  her  upon  her  husband  to  hinder  his  deliv- 
ering him  up  to  the  Jews  ;  for  then,  and  not  till  then, 
he  knew  how  Christ  was  to  vanquish  hell  by  the 
power  of  his  cross. 

Thus  the  Devil  was  disappointed  and  exposed  in 
every  step  he  took ;  and  as  he  now  plainly  saw  his 
kingdom  declining,  and  even  the  temporal  kingdom  of 
Christ  rising  up  upon  the  ruins  of  his  (Satan's)  power, 
he  seemed  to  retreat  into  his  own  region  the  air,  and 
to  consult  there  with  his  fellow  devils,  what  measures 
he  should  take  next  to  preserve  his  dominion  among 
men.  Here  it  was  that  he  resolved  upon  that  truly 
hellish  thing  called  persecution ;  by  which,  though  he 
proved  a  foolish  devil  in  that  too,  he  flattered  himself 
he  should  be  able  to  destroy  God's  church,  and  root 
out  its  professors  from  the  earth,  even  almost  as  soon 
as  it  was  established  ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary, 
Heaven  counteracted  him  there  too  ;  and  though  he 
armed  the  whole  Roman  empire  against  the  Christians, 
that  is  to  say,  the  whole  world,  and  they  were  fallen 
upon  everywhere,  with  all  the  fury  and  rage  of  some 
of  the  most  flaming  tyrants  that  the  world  ever  saw. 
of  whom  Nero  was  the  first ;  yet,  in  spite  of  hell,  God 
made  all  the  blood,  which  the  Devil  caused  to  be  spilt, 


156  THE   MODERN   HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL. 

to  be  semen  ecclesia ;;  and  the  Devil  had  the  mortifica- 
tion to  see,  that  the  number  of  Christians  increased, 
even  under  the  very  means  he  made  use  of  to  root 
them  out,  and  destroy  them.  This  was  the  case 
through  the  reign  of  all  the  Roman  emperors,  for  the 
first  three  hundred  years  after  Christ. 

Having  thus  tried  all  the  methods  that  best  suited 
his  inclination,  I  mean  those  of  blood  and  death,  com- 
plicated with  tortures,  and  all  kinds  of  cruelty,  and 
that  for  so  long  a  space  of  time  as  above ;  "the  Devil 
all  on  a  sudden,  as  if  glutted  with  blood,  and  satiated 
with  destruction,  sits  still,  and  becomes  a  peaceable 
spectator  for  a  good  while ;  as  if  he  either  found  him- 
self unable,  or  had  no  disposition,  to  hinder  the  pro- 
gress of  Christianity,  in  the  first  ages  of  its  settlement 
in  the  world.  In  this  interval  the  Christian  church 
was  established  under  Constantine,  religion  flourished 
in  peace,  and  under  the  most  perfect  tranquillity.  The 
Devil  seemed  to  be  at  a  loss  what  he  should  do  next, 
and  things  began  to  look  as  if  Satan's  kingdom  was  at 
an  end.  But  he  soon  let  them  see,  that  he  was  the 
same  indefatigable  Devil  that  ever  he  was ;  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  church  gave  him  a  large  field  of  ac- 
tion ;  for  knowing  the  disposition  of  mankind  to  quarrel 
and  dispute,  the  universal  passion  rooted  in  nature, 
especially  among  the  Churchmen,  for  precedency  and 
dominion,  he  fell  to  work  with  them  immediately ;  so 
that,  turning  the  tables,  and  reassuming  the  subtlety 
and  craft,  which,  I  say,  he  seemed  to  have  lost  in  the 
former  four  hundred  years,  he  gained  more  ground  in 
the  next  ages  of  the  church,  and  went  farther  towards 
restoring  his  power  and  empire  in  the  world,  and  to- 
wards overthrowing  that  very  church  which  was  so 
lately  established,  than  all  he  had  done  by  fire  and 
blood  before. 

His  policy  now  seemed  to  be  edged  with  resentment, 
for  the  mistakes  he  had  made;  as  if  the  Devil,  looking 
back  with  anger  at  himself,  to  see  what  a  fool  he  had 
been,  to  expect  to  crush  religion  by  persecution,  re- 
joiced for  having  discovered,  that  liberty  and  dominion 
was  the  only  way  to  ruin  the  church,  not  fire  and 
faggot;  and  that  he  had  nothing  to  do,  but  to  give  the 
zealous  people  their  utmost  liberty  in  religion,  only 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  157 

sowing  error  and  variety  of  opinion  among  them,  and 
they  would  bring  fire  and  faggot  in  fast  enough  among 
themselves. 

It  must  be  confessed  these  were  devilish  politics; 
and  so  sure  was  the  aim.  and  so  certain  was  the  Devil 
to  hit  his  mark  by  them,  that  we  find  he  not  only  did 
not  fail  then,  but  the  same  hellish  methods  have  pre- 
vailed still,  and  will  do  so  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
Nor  had  the  Devil  ever  a  better  game  to  play  than  this, 
for  the  ruin  of  religion,  as  we  shall  have  room  to  show 
in  many  examples,  besides  that  of  the  dissenters  in 
England,  who  are  evidently  weakened  by  the  late 
toleration.  Whether  the  Devil  had  any  hand  in  bait- 
ing his  hook  with  an  a —  of  parliament  or  no,  history 
is  silent;  but  it  is  too  evident  he  has  catched  the  fish 
by  it,:  and  if  the  honest  church  of  England  does  not 
in  pity,  and  Christian  charity  to  the  dissenters,  strait- 
en her  hand  a  little,  I  cannot  but  fear  the  Devil  will 
gain  his  point,  and  the  dissenter  will  be  undone  by  it. 

Upon  this  new  foot  of  politics  the  Devil  began  with 
the  emperors  themselves.  Arius,  the  father  of  the  her- 
etics of  that  age,  having  broached  his  opinions  ;  and 
Athanasius,  the  orthodox  bishop  of  the  east,  opposing 
him ;  the  Devil  no  sooner  saw  the  door  open  to  strife 
and  imposition,  but  he  thrust  himself  in,  and  raising 
the  quarrel  up  to  a  suited  degree  of  rage  and  spleen, 
he  involved  the  good  emperor  himself  in  it  first ;  and 
Athanasius  was  banished  and  recalled,  and  banished 
and  recalled  again,  several  times,  as  error  ran  high, 
and  as  the  Devil  either  got  or  lost  ground.  After  Con- 
stantine,  the  next  emperor  was  a  child  of  his  own, 
(Arian ;)  and  then  the  court  came  all  into  the  quarrel, 
as  courts  often  do ;  and  then  the  Arians  and  the  ortho- 
dox persecuted  one  another  as  furiously  as  the  Pagans 
persecuted  them  all  before.  To  such  an  height  the 
Devil  brought  his  conquest,  in  the  very  infancy  of  the 
question;  and  so  much  did  he  prevail  over  the  true 
Christianity  of  the  primitive  church,  even  before  they 
had  enjoyed  the  liberty  of  the  pure  worship  twenty 
years. 

Flushed  with  this  success,  the  Devil  made  one  push 
for  the  restoring  Paganism,  and  bringing  on  the  old 
worship  of  the  heathen  idols  and  temples ;  but,  like  our 
H 


158  THE  MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

King  James  II.  he  drove  too  hard,  and  Julian  had  so 
provoked  the  whole  Roman  empire,  which  was  gene- 
rally, at  that  time,  become  Christian,  that  had  the 
apostate  lived,  he  would  not  have  been  able  to  have 
held  the  throne;  and,  as  he  was  cut  off  in  his  begin- 
ning, Paganism  expired  with  him,  and  the  Devil  him- 
self might  have  cried  out.  as  Julian  did,  and  with  much 
more  propriety,  Vicisti,  Galilcee. 

Jovian,  the  next  emperor,  being  a  glorious  Christian, 
and  a  very  good  and  great  man,  the  Devil  abdicated 
for  a  while,  and  left  the  Christian  armies  to  reestablish 
the  orthodox  faith ;  nor  could  he  bring  the  Christians 
to  a  breach  again  among  themselves  a«great  while 
after. 

However,  time,  and  a  diligent  Devil,  did  the  work 
at  last ;  and  when  the  emperors'  concerning  themsejves 
one  way  or  other  did  not  appear  sufficient  to  answer 
his  end,  he  changed  hands  again,  and  went  to  work 
with  the  clergy.  To  set  the  doctors  effectually  together 
by  the  ears,  he  threw  in  the  new  notion  of  primacy 
among  them,  for  a  bone  of  contention  ;  the  bait  took, 
the  priests  swallowed  it  eagerly  down ;  and  the  Devil, 
a  cunninger  fisherman  than  ever  St.  Peter  was,  struck 
them  (as  the  anglers  call  it)  with  a  quick  hand,  and 
hung  them  fast  upon  the  hook. 

Having  them  thus  in  his  clutches,  and  they  being 
now,  as  we  may  say,  his  own,  they  took  their  meas- 
ures afterwards  from  him,  and  most  obediently  followed 
his  directions;  nay,  I  will  not  say  but  he  may  have 
had  pretty  much  the  management  of  the  whole  society 
ever  since,  of  what  profession  or  party  soever  they 
may  have  been,  with  exception  only  to  the  reverend 
and  right  reverend  among  ourselves. 

The  sacred,  as  above,  being  thus  hooked  in,  and  the 
Devil  being  at  the  head  of  their  affairs,  matters  went 
on  most  gloriously  his  own  way ;  first,  the  bishops  fell 
to  bandying  and  party-making  for  the  superiority,  as 
heartily  as  ever  temporal  tyrants  did  for  dominion; 
and  took  as  black  and  devilish  methods  to  carry  it  on, 
as  the  worst  of  those  tyrants  ever  had  done  before 
them. 

At  last  Satan  declared  for  the  Roman  pontiff,  and 
that  upon  excellent  conditions,  in  the  reign  of  the 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  159 

Emperor  Mauritius;  for  Boniface,  who  had  long  con- 
tended for  the  title  of  supreme,  fell  into  a  treaty  with 
Phocas,  captain  of  the  emperor's  guards;  whether  the 
hargain  was  from  hell  or  not,  let  any  one  judge;  the 
conditions  absolutely  entitle  the  Devil  to  the  honor  of 
making  the  contract;  namely,  that  Phocas  first  mur- 
dering his  master  (the  emperor,)  and  his  sons,  Boniface 
should  countenance  the  treason,  and  declare  him  em- 
peror; and,  in  return,  Phocas  should,  acknowledge  the 
primacy  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  declare  Boniface 
universal  bishop.  A  blessed  compact !  which  at  once 
set  the  Devil  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  the  Christian 
world,  as  well  spiritual  as  temporal,  ecclesiastic  as 
civil.  Since  the  conquest  over  Eve  in  Paradise,  by 
which  death  and  the  Devil,  hand  in  hand,  established 
their  first  empire  upon  earth,  the  Devil  never  gained  a 
more  important  point  than  he  gained  at  this  time. 

He  had  indeed  prospered  in  his  affairs  tolerably  well 
for  some  time  before  this,  and  his  interest  among  the 
clergy  had  got  ground  for  some  ages ;  but  that  was 
indeed  a  secret  management,  was  carried  on  privately, 
and  with  difficulty;  as  in  sowing  discord  and  faction 
among  the  people,  perplexing  the  councils  of  their 
princes,  and  secretly  wheedling  in  with  the  dignified 
clergy. 

Also  he  had  raised  abundance  of  little  church-rebel- 
lions, by  setting  up  heretics  of  several  kinds,  and  rais- 
ing them  favorers  among  the  clergy,  such  as  Ebion, 
Cerinthus,  Pelagius,  and  others. 

He  had  drawn  in  the  bishops  of  Rome  to  set  up  the 
ridiculous  pageantry  of  the  key ;  and  while  he,  the 
Devil,  set  open  the  gates  of  hell  to  them  all,  put  them 
upon  locking  up  the  gates  of  heaven,  and  giving  the 
bishop  the  key ;  a  cheat  whichr  as  gross  as  it  was,  the 
Devil  so  gilded  over,  or  so  blinded  the  age  to  receive  it, 
that,  like  Gideon's  ephod,  all  the  Catholic  world  went 
a  whoring  after  the  idol ;  and  the  bishop  of  Rome  sent 
more  fools  to  the  Devil  by  it,  than  ever  he  pretended 
to  let  into  heaven,  though  he  opened  the  door  as  wide 
as  his  key  was  able  to  do. 

The  story  of  this  key  being  given  to  the  bishop  of 
Rome  by  St.  Peter,  (who.  by  the  way,  never  had  it 
himself,)  and  of  its  being  lost  by  somebody  or  other 


160  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

(the  Devil  it  seems  did  not  tell  them  who,)  and  its 
being  found  again  by  a  "Lombard  soldier,  in  the  army 
of  King  Antharis;  who,  attempting  to  cut  it  with  his 
knife,  was  miraculously  forced  to  direct  the  wound  to 
himself,  and  cut  his  own  throat;  that  fcng  Antharis 
and  his  nobles,  happened  to  see  the  fellow  do  it,  and 
were  converted  to  Christianity  by  it ;  and  that  the  king 
sent  the  key,  with  another  made  like  it,  to  Pope  Pela- 
gius,  then  bishop.of  Rome,  who  thereupon  assumed  the 
power  of  opening  and  shutting  heaven's  gates ;  and  he 
afterwards  setting  a  price,  or  toll,  upon  the  entrance, 
as  we  do  here  at  passing  a  turnpike.  These  fine 
things,  I  say,  were  successfully  managed  for  some 
years  before  this  I  am  now  speaking  of;  and  the  Devil 
got  a  great  deal  of  ground  by  it  too;  but  now  he  tri- 
umphed openly,  and,  having  set  up  a  murderer  upon 
the  temporal  throne,  and  a  church  emperor  upon  the 
ecclesiastic  throne,  and  both  of  his  own  choosing,  the 
Devil  may  be  said  to  begin  his  new  kingdom  from  this 
epocha,  and  call  it  the  restoration. 

Since  this  time  indeed,  the  Devil's  affairs  went  very 
merrily  on,  and  the  clergy  brought  so  many  gewgaws 
into  their  worship,  and  such  devilish  principles  were 
mixed  with  that  which  we  call  the  Christian  faith ; 
that  in  a  word,  from  this  time,  the  bishop  of  Rome 
commenced  whore  of  Babylon,  in  all  the  most  express 
terms  that  could  be  imagined.  Tyranny  of  the  worst 
sort  crept  into  the  pontificate,  errors  of  all  sorts  into  the 
profession ;  and  they  proceeded  from  one  thing  to  an- 
other, till  the  very  pope,  for  so  the  bishop  of  Rome 
was  now  called,  by  way  of  distinction ;  I  say,  the 
popes  themselves,  their  spiritual  guides,  professed 
openly  to  confederate  with  the  Devil,  and  to  carry  on 
a  personal  and  private  correspondence  with  him,  at  the 
same  time  taking  upon  them  the  title  of  Christ's 
vicar,  and  the  infallible  guide  of  the  consciences  of 
Christians. 

This  we  have  sundry  instances  of  in  some  merry 
popes;  who,  if  fame  lies  not,  were  sorcerers,  magicians, 
had  familiar  spirits,  and  immediate  conversation  with 
the  Devil,  as  well  visibly  as  invisibly,  and  by  this 
means  became  what  we  call  devils  incarnate.  Upon 
this  account  it  is,  that  I  have  left  the  conversation  that 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  161 

passes  between  devils  and  men  to  this  place,  as  well 
because  I  believe  it  differs  much  now  in  his  modem 
state,  from  what  it  was  in  his  ancient  state;  and 
therefore,  that  which  most  concerns  us  belongs  rather 
to  this  part  of  his  history  ;  as  also,  because,  as  I  am 
now  writing  to  the  present  age,  I  choose  to  bring  the 
most  significant  parts  of  his  history,  especially  as  they 
relate  to  ourselves,  into  that  part  of  time  that  we  are 
most  concerned  in. 

The  Devil  had  once,  as  I  observed  before,  the  uni- 
versal monarchy  or  government  of  mankind  in  himself; 
and  I  doubt  not  but,  in  that  flourishing  state  of  his 
affairs,  he  governed  them  like  what  he  is,  namely,  an 
absolute  tyrant;  during  this  theocracy  of  his,  for  Satan 
is  called  the  God  of  this  world,  he  did  not  familiarize 
himself  to  mankind  so  much,  as  he  finds  occasion  to 
do  now;  there  was  not  then  so  much  need  of  it;  he 
governed  them  with  an  absolute  sway;  he  had  his 
oracles,  where  he  gave  audience  to  his  votaries  like  a 
deity ;  and  he  had  his  sub-gods,  who  under  his  several 
dispositions,  received  the  homage  of  mankind  in  their 
names  ;  such  were  all  the  rabble  of  the  heathen  deities, 
from  Jupiter  the  supreme,  to  the  Lares,  or  household 
gods,  of  every  family  ;  these,  I  say,  like  residents,  re- 
ceived the  prostrations ;  but  the  homage  was  all  Sa- 
tan's; the  Devil  had  the  substance  of  it  all,  which  was 
the  idolatry. 

During  this  administration  of  hell,  there  was  less 
witchcraft,  less  true  literal  magic,  than  there  has  been 
since;  there  was  indeed  no  need  of  it,  the  Devil  did 
not  stoop  to  the  mechanism  of  his  more  modern  ope- 
rations, but  ruled  as  a  deity,  and  received  the  vows 
and  the  bows  of  his  subjects  in  more  state,  and  with 
more  solemnity;  whereas,  since  that,  he  is  content  to 
employ  more  agents,  and  take  more  pains  himself  too; 
now  he  runs  up  and  down  hackney  in  the  world,  more 
like  a  drudge  than  a  prince,  and  much  more  than  he 
did  then. 

Hence  all  those  things  we  call  apparitions  and 
visions  of  ghosts,  familiar  spirits,  and  dealings  with 
the  Devil,  of  which  there  is  so  great  a  variety  in  the 
world  at  this  time,  were  not  so  much  known  among 
the  people,  in  those  first  ages  of  the  Devil's  kingdom ; 
14=* 


162  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

in  a  word,  the  Devil  seems  to  be  put  to  his  shifts,  and 
to  fly  to  art  and  stratagem  for  the  carrying  on  his  af- 
fairs, much  more  now  than  he  did  then. 

One  reason  for  this  may  be,  that  he  has  been  more 
discovered  and  exposed  in  these  ages,  than  he  was  be- 
fore ;  then  he  could  appear  in  the  world  in  his  own 
proper  shapes,  and  yet  not  be  known ;  when  the  sons 
of  God  appeared  at  the  divine  summons,  Satan  came 
along  with  them ;  but  now  he  has  played  so  many 
scurvy  tricks  upon  men,  and  they  know  him  so  well, 
that  he  is  obliged  to  play  quite  out  of  sight,  and  act  in 
disguise  ;  mankind  will  allow  nothing  of  his  doing, 
and  hear  nothing  of  his  saying,  in  his  own  name. 
And  if  you  propose  anything  to  be  done,  and  it  be  but 
said  the  Devil  is  to  help  in  the  doing  it ;  or  if  you 
say  of  any  man,  he  deals  with  the  Devil,  or  the  Devil 
has  a  hand  in  it;  everybody  flies  him,  and  shuns  him, 
as  the  most  frightful  thing  in  the  world. 

Nay,  if  anything  strange  and  improbable  be  done, 
or  related  to  be  done,  we  presently  say  the  Devil  was 
at  the  doing  it.  Thus  the  great  ditch  afNewmarket- 
heath  is  called  the  Devil's  ditch ;  so  the  Devil  built 
Crowland  Abbey,  and  the  whispering  place  in  Glou- 
cester cathedral ;  nay,  the  cave  at  Castleton,  only  be- 
cause there  is  no  getting  to  the  farther  end  of  it,  is  called 
the  Devil's  place,  and  the  like.  The  poor  people  of 
Wiltshire,  when  you  ask  them  how  the  great  stones  at 
Stonehenge  were  brought  thither?  they  will  all  tell 
you  the  Devil  brought  them.  If  any  mischief  extra- 
ordinary befalls  us,  we  presently  say  the  Devil  was  in 
it,  and  the  Devil  would  have  it  so;  in  a  word,  the 
Devil  has  got  an  ill  name  among  us,  and  so  he  is  fain 
to  act  more  incog,  than  he  used  to  do,  play  out  of 
sight  himself,  and  work  by  the  sap,  as  the  engineers 
call  it ;  and  not  openly  and  avowedly,  in  his  own 
name  and  person,  as  formerly,  though  perhaps  not 
with  less  success  than  he  did  before ;  and  this  leads 
me  to  inquire  more  narrowly  into  the  manner  of  the 
Devil's  management  of  his  affairs,  since  the  Christian 
religion  began  to  spread  in  the  world,  which  mani- 
festly differs  from  his  conduct  in  more  ancient  times ; 
in  which,  if  we  discover  some  of  the  most  consum- 
mate fool's  policy,  the  most  profound  simple-craft,  and 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  103 

the  most  subtle,  shallow  management  of  things  that 
can,  by  our  weak  understandings,  be  conceived,  we 
must  only  resolve  it  into  this,  that,  in  short,  it  is  the 
Devil. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Of  hell,  as  it  is  represented  to  us ;  and  how  the  Devil 
is  to  be  understood,  as  being  personally  in  hell,  when 
at  the  same  time  we  find  him  at  liberty  ranging  over 
the  world. 

IT  is  true,  as  that  learned  and  pleasant  author,  the 
inimitable  Dr.  Brown,  says,  the  Devil  is  his  own  hell; 
one  of  the  most  constituting  parts  of  his  infelicity  is, 
that  he  cannot  act  upon  mankind  by  his  own  inherent 
power,  as  well  as  rage ;  that  he  cannot  unhinge  this 
creation;  which,  as  I  have  observed  in  its  place,  he 
had  the  utmost  aversion  to  from  its  beginning,  as  it 
was  a  stated  design  in  the  Creator,  to  supply  his  place 
in  heaven  with  a  new  species  of  beings  called  man, 
and  fill  the  vacancies  occasioned  by  his  degeneracy 
and  rebellion. 

This  rilled  him  with  rage  inexpressible,  and  horrible 
resolutions  of  revenge ;  and  the  impossibility  of  exe- 
cuting those  resolutions  torments  him  with  despair; 
this,  added  to  what  he  was  before,  makes  him  a  com- 
plete devil,  with  an  hell  in  his  own  breast,  and  a  fire 
unquenchable  burning  about  his  heart. 

I  might  enlarge  here,  and  very  much  to  the  purpose, 
in  describing  spherically  and  mathematically  that  ex- 
quisite quality  called  a  devilish  spirit;  in  which  it 
would  naturally  occur,  to  give  you  a  whole  chapter 
upon  the  glorious  articles  of  malice  and  envy,  and  es- 
pecially upon  that  luscious,  delightful  triumphant  pas- 
sion called  revenge;  how  natural  to  man,  nay  even  to 
both  sexes ;  how  pleasant  in  the  very  contemplation, 
though  there  be  not  just  at  that  time  a  power  of  ex- 
ecution ;  how  palatable  it  is  in  itself;  and  how  well  it 
relishes  when  dished  up  with  proper  sauces ;  such  as 
plots,  contrivance,  scheme,  and  confederacy,  all  lead- 


164  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

ing  on  to  execution.  How  it  possesses  a  human  soul 
in  all  the  most  sensible  parts;  how  it  empowers  man- 
kind to  sin  in  imagination,  as  effectually  to  all  future 
intents  and  purposes,  (death,)  as  if  he  had  sinned  ac- 
tually. How  safe  a  practice  it  is  too,  as  to  punishment 
in  this  life ;  namely,  that  it  empowers  us  to  cut  throats 
clear  of  the  gallows,  to  slander  virtue,  reproach  inno- 
cence, wound  honor,  and  stab  reputation ;  and,  in  a 
word,  to  do  all  the  wicked  things  in  the  world,  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  law. 

It  would  also  require  some  few  words  to  describe 
the  secret  operations  of  those  nice  qualities,  when  they 
reach  the  human  soul ;  how  effectually  they  form  an 
hell  within  us,  and  how  imperceptibly  they  assimilate 
and  transform  us  into  devils,  mere  human  devils,  as 
really  devils  as  Satan  himself,  or  any  of  his  angels ; 
and  that  therefore  it  is  not  so  much  out  of  the  way,  as 
some  imagine,  to  say,  such  a  man  is  an  incarnate  devil ; 
for  as  crime  made  Satan  a  devil,  who  was  before  a 
bright  immortal  seraph,  or  angel  of  light,  how  much 
more  easily  may  the  same  crime  make  the  same  devil, 
though  every  way  meaner,  and  more  contemptible,  of 
a  man  or  a  woman  either?  But  this  is  too  grave  a 
subject  for  me  at  this  time. 

The  Devil  being  thus,  I  say,  fired  with  rage  and 
envy,  in  consequence  of  his  jealousy  upon  the  creation 
of  man,  his  torment  is  increased  to  the  highest  by  the 
limitation  of  his  power,  and  being  forbid  to  act  against 
mankind  by  force  of  arms;  this  is,  I  say,  part  of  his 
hell,  which,  as  above,  is  within  him,  and  which  he 
carries  with  him  wherever  he  goes ;  nor  is  it  so  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  of  hell,  or  of  the  Devil  either,  under 
this  just  description,  as  it  is  by  all  the  usual  notions 
that  we  are  taught  to  entertain  of  them,  by  (the  old 
women)  our  instructors  ;  for  every  man  may,  by  taking 
but  a  common  view  of  himself,  and  making  a  just 
scrutiny  into  his  own  passions,  on  some  of  their  par- 
ticular excursions,  see  an  hell  within  himself,  and  him- 
self a  mere  devil  as  long  as  the  inflammation  lasts ; 
and  that  as  really,  and  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as 
if  he  had  the  angel  (Satan)  before  his  face,  in  his  lo- 
cality and  personality ;  that  is  to  say,  all  devil  and 
monster  in  his  person;  and  an  immaterial,  but  in- 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  165 

tense  fire  flaming  about  and  from  within  him,  at  all 
the  pores  of  bis  body. 

The  notions  we  receive  of  the  Devil,  as  a  person 
being  in  hell  as  a  place,  are  infinitely  absurd  and  ridi- 
culous. The  first  we  are  certain  is  not  true  in  fact, 
because  he  has  a  certain  liberty,  (however  limited, 
that  is  not  to  the  purpose,)  is  daily  visible,  and  to  be 
traced  in  his  several  attacks  upon  mankind,  and  has 
been  so  ever  since  his  first  appearance  in  Paradise  ;  as 
to  his  corporal  visibility,  that  is  riot  the  present  ques- 
tion neither;  it  is  enough  that  we  can  hunt  him  by  the 
foot,  that  we  can  follow  him  as  hounds  do  a  fox  upon 
an  hot  scent.  We  can  see  him  as  plainly  by  the  effect, 
by  the  mischief  he  does,  and  more  by  the  mischief  he 
puts  us  upon  doing,  I  say,  as  plainly,  as  if  we  saw 
him  by  the  eye. 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted  but  the  Devil  can  see  us  when 
and  where  we  cannot  see  him.  And  as  he  has  a  per- 
sonality, though  it  be  spirituous,  he  and  his  angels  too 
may  be  reasonably  supposed  to  inhabit  the  world  of 
spirits,  and  to  have  free  access  from  thence  to  the 
regions  of  life,  arid  to  pass  and  repass  in  the  air,  as 
really,  though  not  perceptible  to  us,  as  the  spirits  of 
men  do,  after  their  release  from  the  body,  pass  to  a 
place  (wherever  that  is)  which  is  appointed  for  them. 

If  the  Devil  was  confined  to  a  place  (hell)  as  a 
prison,  he  could  then  have  no  business  here;  and  if  we 
pretend  to  describe  hell,  as  not  a  prison,  but  that  the 
devil  has  liberty  to  be  there,  or  not  to  be  there,  as  he 
pleased,  then  he  would  certainly  never  be  there,  or 
hell  is  not  such  a  place  as  we  are  taught  to  understand 
it  to  be. 

Indeed,  according  to  some,  hell  should  be  a  place  of 
fire  and  torment  to  the  souls  that  are  cast  into  it,  but 
not  to  the  devils  themselves;  whom  we  make  little 
more  or  less  than  keepers  and  turnkeys  to  hell,  as  a 
gaol ;  that  they  are  sent  about  to  bring  souls  thither, 
lock  them  in  when  they  come,  and  then  away  upon 
the  scent  to  fetch  more.  That  one  sort  of  devils  are 
made  to  live  in  the  world  among  men,  and  to  be  busy 
continually  debauching  and  deluding  mankind,  bring- 
ing them  as  it  were  to  the  gates  of  hell ;  and  then, 
another  sort  are  porters  and  carriers  to  fetch  them  in. 


166  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

This  is,  in  short,  little  more  or  less  than  the  old  story 
of  Pluto,  of  Cerberus,  and  of  Charon ;  only  that  our 
tale  is  not  half  so  well  told,  nor  the  parts  of  the  fable 
so  well  laid  together. 

In  all  these  notions  of  hell  and  the  Devil,  the  tor- 
ments of  the  first,  and  the  agency  of  the  last  torment- 
ing, we  meet  with  not  one  word  of  the  main,  and  per- 
haps only  accent  of  horror,  which  belongs  to  us  to 
judge  of  about  hell,  I  mean  the  absence  of  heaven; 
expulsion  and  exclusion  from  the  presence  and  face  of 
the  chief  Ultimate,  the  only  eternal  and  sufficient  Good; 
and  this  loss  sustained  by  a  sordid  neglect  of  our  con- 
cern in  that  excellent  part,  in  exchange  for  the  most 
contemptible  and  justly  condemned  trifles,  and  all  this 
eternal  and  irrecoverable.  These  people  tell  us  nothing 
of  the  eternal  reproaches  of  conscience,  the  horror  of 
desperation,  and  the  anguish  of  a  mind  hopeless  of 
ever  seeing  the  glory,  which  alone  constitutes  heaven, 
and  which  makes  all  other  places  dreadful,  and  even 
darkness  itself. 

And  this  brings  me  directly  to  the  point  in  hand  ; 
namely,  the  state  of  that  hell  we  ought  to  have  in 
view,  when  we  speak  of  the  devil  as  in  hell.  This  is 
the  very  hell,  which  is  the  torment  of  the  devil;  in 
short,  the  Devil  is  in  hell,  and  hell  is  in  the  Devil ; 
he  is  filled  with  this  unquenchable  fire,  he  is  expelled 
the  place  of  glory,  banished  from  the  regions  of  light; 
absence  from  the  life  of  all  beatitude  is  his  curse; 
despair  is  the  reigning  passion  in  his  mind  ;  and  all  the 
little  constituent  parts  of  his  torment,  such  as  rage, 
envy,  malice,  and  jealousy,  are  consolidated  in  this,  to 
make  his  misery  complete  ;  namely,  the  duration  of  it 
all,  the  eternity  of  his  condition  ;  that  he  is  without 
hope,  without  redemption,  without  recovery. 

If  anything  can  inflame  this  hell,  and  make  it  hotter, 
it  is  this  only,  and  this  does  add  an  inexpressible 
horror  to  the  Devil  himself;  namely,  the  seeing  man 
(the  only  creature  he  hates)  placed  in  a  state  of  re- 
covery, a  glorious  establishment  of  redemption  formed 
for  him  in  heaven,  and  the  scheme  of  it  perfected  on 
earth;  by  which  this  man,  though  even  the  Devil  by 
his  art  may  have  deluded  him,  and  drawn  him  into 
crime,  is  yet  in  a  state  of  recovery,  which  the  Devil 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  167 

is  not ;  and  that  it  is  not  in  his  (Satan's)  power  to  pre- 
vent it.  Now  take  the  Devil  as  he  is  in  his  own  nature 
angelic,. a  bright  immortal  seraph,  heaven-born,  and 
having  tasted  the  eternal  beatitude,  which  these  are 
appointed  to  enjoy;  the  loss  of  that  state  to  himself, 
the  possession  of  it  granted  to  his  rival,  though  wicked 
like  and  as  himself;  I  say,  take  the  Devil  as  he  is, 
having  a  quick  sense  of  his  own  perdition,  and  a  sting- 
ing sight  of  his  rival's  felicity,  it  is  hell  enough,  and 
more  than  enough,  even  for  an  angel  to  support;  no- 
thing we  can  conceive,  can  be  worse. 

As  to  any  other  fire  than  this,  such,  and  so  immate- 
rially intense,  as  to  torment  a  spirit,  which  is  itself 
fire  also;  I  will  not  say  it  cannot  be,  because  to  Infi- 
nite everything  is  possible ;  but  I  must  say,  I  cannot 
conceive  rightly  of  it. 

I  will  not  enter  here  into  the  wisdom  or  reasonable-  . 
ness  of  representing  the  torments  of  hell  to  be  fire,  and 
that  fire  to  be  a  commixture  of  flame  and  sulphur;  it 
has  pleased  God  to  let  the  horror  of  those  eternal  ago- 
nies about  a  lost  heaven  be  laid  before  us  by  those 
similitudes  or  allegories,  which  are  most  moving  to  our 
senses,  and  to  our  understandings ;  nor  will  I  dispute 
the  possibility;  much  less  will  I  doubt  but  that  there 
is  to  be  a  consummation  of  misery  to  all  the  objects  of 
misery,  when,  the  Devil's  kingdom  in  this  world  end- 
ing with  the  world  itself,  that  liberty  he  has  now  may 
be  farther  abridged ;  when  he  may  be  returned  to  the 
same  state  he  was  in  between  the  time  of  his  fall  and 
the  creation  of  the  world ;  with  perhaps  some  additional 
vengeance  on  him,  such  as  at  present  we  cannot  de- 
scribe, for  all  that  treason,  and  those  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors,  which  he  has  been  guilty  of  here,  in  his 
conversation  with  mankind. 

\  As  his  infelicity  will  be  then  consummated  and  con- 
pleted,  so  the  felicity  of  that  part  of  mankind,  who  are 
condemned  with  him,  may  receive  a  considerable  addi- 
tion from  those  words  in  their  sentence,  to  be  tormented 
with  the  Devil,  and  his  angels ;  for  as  the  absence  of 
the  supreme  Good  is  a  complete  hell,  so  the  hated 
company  of  the  deceiver,  who  was  the  great  cause  of 
his  ruin,  must  be /a  subject  of  additional  horror,  and  he 
will  be  always  saying,  as  a  Scotch  gentleman,  who 


168  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

died  of  his  excesses,  said  to  the  famous  Dr.  P , 

who  came  to  see  him  on  his  death-bed,  but  had  been 
too  much  his  companion  in  his  life, — "  It  is  no  time  to 
trifle  with  truth." 

I  would  not  treat  the  very  subject  itself  with  any 
indecency;  nor  do  I  think  my  opinion  of  that  hell', 
which  I  say  consists  in  the  absence  of  him,  in  whom 
is  heaven,  one  jot  less  solemn  than  theirs  who  believe 
it  all  fire  and  brimstone;  but  I  must  own,  that,  to  me, 
nothing  can  be  more  ridiculous,  than  the  notions  that 
we  entertain,  and  fill  our  heads  with,  about  hell,  and 
about  the  Devil's  being  there  tormenting  of  souls, 
broiling  them  upon  gridirons,  hanging  them  up  upon 
hooks,  carrying  them  upon  their  backs,  and  the  like  ; 
with  the  several  pictures  of  hell,  represented  by  a  great 
mouth  with  horrible  teeth,  gaping  like  a  cave  on  the 
side  of  a  mountain  ;  suppose  that  appropriated  to  Satan 
in  the  Peak,  which  indeed  is  not  much  unlike  it,  with 
a  stream  of  fire  coming  out  of  it,  as  there  is  of  water, 
and  smaller  devils  going  and  coming  continually  in 
and  out.  to  fetch  and  carry  souls  the  Lord  knows 
whither,  and  for  the  Lord  knows  what. 

These  things,  however  intended  for  terror,  are  indeed 
so  ridiculous,  that  the  Devil  himself,  to  be  sure,  mocks 
at  them;  and  a  man  of  sense  can  hardly  refrain  doing 
the  like;  only  I  avoid  it,  because  I  would  not  give 
offence  to  weaker  heads. 

However,  I  must  not  compliment  the  brains  of  other 
men  at  the  expence  of  my  own,  or  talk  nonsense  be- 
cause they  can  understand  no  other.  I  think  all  these 
notions  and  representations  of  hell,  and  of  the  Devil, 
to  be  as  profane  as  they  are  ridiculous ;  and  I  ought  no 
more  to  talk  profanely  than  merrily  of  them. 

Let  us  learn  to  talk  of  these  things  then,  as  we 
should  do ;  and  as  we  really  cannot  describe  them  to* 
our  reason  and  understanding,  why  should  we  describe 
them  to  our  senses?  We  had,  I  think,  much  better 
not  describe  them  at  all,  that,  is  to  say,  not  attempt  it. 
The  blessed  Apostle  St.  Paul  was,  as  he  said  himself, 
carried  up,  or  caught  up,  into  the  third  heaven ;  yet, 
when  he  came  down  again,  he  could  neither  tell  what 
he  heard,  or  describe  what  he  saw ;  all  he  could  say 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OP   THE    DEVIL.  169 

of  it  was,  that  what  he  heard  was  unutterable,  and 
what  he  saw  was  inconceivable. 

It  is  the  same  thing  as  to  the  state  of  the  Devil,  in 
those  regions  which  he  now  possesses,  and  where  he 
now  more  particularly  inhabits.  My  present  business 
then  is,  not  to  enter  into  those  grave  things  so  as  to 
make  them  ridiculous,  as  I  think  most  people  do  that 
talk  of  them;  but  as  the  Devil,  let  his  residence  be 
where  it  will,  has  evidently  free  leave  to  come  and  go, 
not  into  this  world  only,  (I  mean  the  region  of  our 
atmosphere,)  but,  for  aught  we  know,  to  all  the  other 
inhabited  worlds  which  God  has  made,  wherever  they 
are,  and  by  whatsoever  names  they  are,  or  may  be, 
known  or  distinguished  ;  for  if  he  is  not  confined  in  one 
place,  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  he  is  excluded  from 
any  place,  heaven  only  excepted,  from  whence  he  was 
expelled  for  his  treason  and  rebellion. 

His  liberty  then  being  thus  ascertained,  three  things 
seem  to  be  material  for  us  to  give  an  account  of,  in 
order  to  form  this  part  of  his  history. 

1.  What  his  business  is  on  this  globe  of  earth  which 
we  vulgarly  call  the  world;  how  he  acts  among  us; 
what  affairs  mankind  and  he  have  together ;  and  how 
far  his  conduct  here  relates  to  us,  and  ours  is,  or  may 
be.  influenced  by  him. 

2.  Where  his  principal  residence  is;  and  whether 
he  has  not  a  particular  empire  of  his  own,  to  which  he 
retreats  upon  proper  occasions ;    where  he  entertains 
his  friends  when  they  come  under  his  particular  ad- 
ministration ;    and  where,   when  he  gets  any  victory 
over  his  enemies,  he  carries  his  prisoners  of  war. 

3.  What  may  probably  be  the  great  business  this 
black  emperor  has  at  present  upon  his  hands,  either  in 
this  world,  or  out  of  it;  and  by  what  agents  he  works. 

As  these  things  may,  perhaps,  run  promiscuously 
through  the  course  of  this  whole  work,  and  frequently 
be  touched  at  under  other  branches  of  the  Devil's  his- 
tory ;  so  I  do  not  propose  them  as  heads  of  chapters, 
or  particular  sections,  for  the  order  of  discourse  to  be 
handled  apart;  for  (by  the  way)  as  Satan's  actings 
have  not  been  the  most  regular  things  in  the  world,  so, 
in  our  discourse  about  him,  it  must  not  be  expected 
that  we  can  always  tie  ourselves  down  to  order  and 
15 


170  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

regularity  either  as  to  time,  or  place,  or  persons ;  for 
Satan  being  a  loose,  ungoverned  fellow,  we  must  be 
content  to  trace  him  where  we  can  find  him. 

It  is  true,  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  I  showed  you  the 
Devil  entered  into  the  herd  ecclesiastic,  and  gave  you 
some  account  of  the  first  successful  step  he  took  with 
mankind,  since  the  Christian  epocha ;  how  having 
secretly  managed  both  temporal  and  spiritual  power 
apart,  and  by  themselves,  he  now  united  them  in  point 
of  management,  and  brought  the  church  usurpation 
and  the  army's  usurpation  together;  the  pope  to  bless 
the  general  in  deposing  and  murdering  his  master  the 
emperor ;  and  the  general  to  recognize  the  pope  in  de- 
throning his  master  Christ  Jesus. 

From  this  time  forward,  you  are  to  allow  the  Devil 
a  mystical  empire  in  this  world ;  not  an  action  of  mo- 
ment done  without  him,  not  a  treason  but  he  has  an 
"hand  in  it,  not  a  tyrant  but  he  prompts  him,  not  a  gov- 
ernment but  he  has  an  agent  in  it;  not  a  fool  but  he 
tickles  him,  not  a  knave  but  he  guides  him;  he  has  a 
finger  in  every  fraud,  a  key  to  every  cabinet,  from  the 
Divan  at  Constantinople,  to  the  Mississippi  in  France, 

and  to  the  South  Sea  ;  from  the  first  attack 

upon  the  Christian  world,  in  the  person  of  the  Romish 
Antichrist,  down  to  the  bull  Unigenitus  ;  and  from  the 
mixture  of  St.  Peter  and  Confucius  in  China,  to  the 
holy  office  in  Spain ;  and  down  to  the  Emlins  and 
Dod  wells  of  the  current  age. 

How  he  has  managed,  and  does  manage,  and  how, 
in  all  probability,  he  will  manage  till  his  kingdom 
shall  come  to  a  period,  and  how,  at  last,  he  will  prob- 
ably be  managed  himself,  inquire  within  the  Sacred 
page,  and  you  shall  know  farther. 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  171 


i' 
CHAPTER     III 


Of  the  manner  of  Satan's  acting-  and  carrying  on  his 
affairs  in  this  world ;  and  particularly  of  his  ordi- 
nary ivorkings  in  the  dark,  by  possession  and  agita- 
tion. 

THE  Devil  being  thus  reduced  to  act  upon  mankind 
by  stratagem  only,  it  remains  to  inquire  how  he  per- 
forms, and  which  way  he  directs  his  attacks.  The 
faculties  of  man  are  a  kind  of  a  garrison  in  a  strong 
castle,  which,  as  they  defend  it  on  the  one  hand  under 
the  command  of  the  reasoning  power  of  man's  soul,  so 
they  are  prescribed  on  the  other  hand,  and  can't  sally 
out  without  leave ;  for  the  governor  of  a  fort  does  not 
permit  his  soldiers  to  hold  any  correspondence  with 
the  enemy,  without  special  order  and  direction.  Now 
the  great  inquiry  before  us  is,  how  comes  the  Devil  to 
a  parley  with  us?  How  does  he  converse  with  our 
senses,  and  with  the  understanding?  How  does  he 
reach  us?  Which  way  does  he  come  at  the  affections, 
and  which  way  does  he  move  the  passions  ?  It  is  a 
little  difficult  to  discover  this  treasonable  correspon- 
dence; and  that  difficulty  is,  indeed,  the  Devil's  ad- 
vantage, and,  for  aught  I  see,  the  chief  advantage  he 
has  over  mankind. 

It  is  also  a  great  inquiry  here,  whether  the  Devil 
knows  our  thoughts  or  no  ?  If  I  may  give  my  opinion, 
I  am  with  the  negative ;  I  deny  that  he  knows  any- 
thing of  our  thoughts,  except  of  those  thoughts  which 
he  puts  us  upon  thinking;  for  I  will  not  doubt,  but  he 
has  the  art  to  inject  thoughts,  and  to  revive  dormant 
thoughts  in  us.  It  is  not  so  wild  a  scheme  as  some 
take  it  to  be,  that  Mr.  Milton  lays  down,  to  represent 
the  Devil  injecting  corrupt  desires,  and  wandering 
thoughts,  into  the  head  of  Eve,  by  dreams;  and  that 
he  brought  her  to  dream  whatever  he  put  into  her 
thoughts,  by  whispering  to  her  vocally  when  she  was 
asleep ;  and,  to  this  end,  he  imagines  the  Devil  laying 
himself  close  to  her  ear,  in  the  shape  of  a  toad,  when 


172  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

she  was  fast  asleep ;  I  say,  this  is  not  so  wild  a  scheme, 
seeing  even  now,  if  you  can  whisper  anything  close  to 
the  ear  of  a  person  in  a  deep  sleep,  so  as  to  speak  dis- 
tinctly to  the  person,  and  yet  not  awaken  him,  as  has 
been  frequently  tried,  the  person  sleeping  shall  dream 
distinctly  of  what  you  say  to  him ;  nay,  shall  drearn 
the  very  words  you  say. 

We  have  then  no  more  to  ask,  but  how  the  Devil 
can  convey  himself  to  the  ear  of  a  sleeping  person ;  and 
it  is  granted  then,  that  he  may  have  power  to  make  us 
dream  what  he  pleases.  But  this  is  not  all;  for  if  he 
can  so  forcibly,  by  his  invisible  application,  cause  us 
to  dream  what  he  pleases,  why  can  he  not,  with  the 
same  facility,  prompt  our  thoughts,  whether  sleeping 
or  waking'?  To  dream,  is  nothing  else  but  to  think 
sleeping ;  and  we  have  abundance  of  deep-headed  gen- 
tlemen among  us,  who  give  us  ample  testimony,  that 
they  dream  waking. 

But  if  the  Devil  can  prompt  us  to  dream,  that  is  to 
say,  to  think ;  yet,  if  he  does  not  know  our  thoughts, 
how  then  can  he  tell  whether  the  whisper  had  its 
effect  ?  The  answer  is  plain  ;  the  Devil,  like  the  angler, 
baits  the  hook;  if  the  fish  bite,  he  lies  ready  to  take 
the  advantage;  he  whispeas  to  the  imagination,  and 
then  waits  to  see  how  it  works  ;  as  Naomi  said  to 
Ruth,  chap.  hi.  ver.  18.  "Sit  still,  my  daughter,  until 
thou  know  how  the  matter  will  fall;  for  the  man  will 
not  be  at  rest  until  he  have  finished  the  thing."  Thus, 
when  the  Devil  had  whispered  to  Eve  in  her  sleep, 
according  to  Milton,  and  suggested  mischief  to  her 
imagination,  he  only  sat  still  to  see  how  the  matter 
would  work;  for  he  knew,  if  it  took  with  her,  he 
should  hear  more  of  it;  and  then,  by  finding  her  alone 
the  next  day,  without  her  ordinary  guard,  her  husband, 
he  presently  concluded  she  had  swallowed  the  bait  ; 
and  so  attacked  her  afresh. 

A  small  deal  of  craft,  and  less,  by  far,  than  we  have 
reason  to  believe  the  Devil  is  master  of,  will  serve  to 
discover,  whether  such  and  such  thoughts  as  he  knows 
he  has  suggested,  have  taken  place  or  no ;  the  action 
of  the  person  presently  discovers  it,  at  least  to  him  that 
lies  always  upon  the  watch,  and  has  every  word; 
every  gesture,  every  step,  we  take  subsequent  to  his 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  173 

operation,  open  to  him.  It  may  therefore,  for  aught 
we  know,  be  a  great  mistake,  and  what  most  of  us  are 
guilty  of,  to  tell  our  dreams  to  one  another  in  the  morn- 
ing, after  we  have  been  disturbed  with  them  in  the 
night;  for  if  the  Devil  converses  with  us  so  insensibly, 
as  some  are  of  opinion  he  does,  that  is  to  say,  if  he  can 
hear  as  far  as  we  can  see,  we  may  be  telling  our  story 
to  him  indeed,  when  we  think  we  are  only  talking  to 
one  another. 

This  brings  me  most  naturally  to  the  important  in- 
quiry, whether  the  Devil  can  walk  about  the  world 
invisibly  or  no  ?  The  truth  is,  this  is  no  question  to 
me;  for  as  I  have  taken  away  his  visibility  already, 
and  have  denied  him  all  prescience  of  futurity  too,  and 
have  proved  he  cannot  know  our  thoughts,  nor  put  any 
force  upon  persons  or  actions,  if  we  should  take  away 
his  invisibility  too,  we  should  undevil  him  quite,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  as  to  any  mischief  he  could  do ; 
nay,  it  would  banish  him  the  world,  and  he  might 
even  go  and  seek  his  fortune  somewhere  else ;  for  if  he 
could  neither  be  visible  or  invisible,  neither  act  in  pub- 
lic or  in  private;  he  could  neither  have  business  or 
being  in  this  sphere,  nor  could  we  be  any  way  con- 
cerned with  him. 

The  Devil  therefore  most  certainly  has  a  power  and 
liberty  of  moving  about  in  this  world,  after  some  man- 
ner or  another ;  this  is  verified  as  well  by  way  of  alle- 
gory, as  by  way  of  history,  in  the  scripture  itself;  and 
as  the  first  strongly  suggests  and  supposes  it  to  be  so, 
the  last  positively  asserts  it ;  and  not  to  crowd  this  work 
with  quotations  from  a  book  which  we  have  not  much 
to  do  with  in  the  Devil's  story,  at  least  not  much 
to  his  satisfaction,  I  only  hint  his  personal  appearance 
to  our  Saviour  in  the  wilderness,  where  it  is  said,  "  the 
Devil  taketh  him  up  to  an  exceeding  high  mountain  ;  " 
and  in  another  place,  "the  Devil  departed  from  him." 
What  shape  or  figure  he  appeared  in,  we  do  not  find 
mentioned ;  but  I  cannot  doubt  his  appearing  to  him 
there,  any  more  than  I  can  his  talking  to  our  Saviour 
in  the  mouths,  and  with  the  voices,  of  the  several 
persons  who  were  under  the  terrible  affliction  of  an 
actual  possession. 

These  things  leave  us  no  room  to  doubt  of  what  is 
15* 


174  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

advanced  above;  namely,  that  he  (the  Devil)  has  a 
certain  residence,  or  liberty  of  residing  in,  and  moving 
about  upon,  the  surface  of  this  earth,  as  well  as  in  the 
compass  of  the  atmosphere,  vulgarly  called  the  air,  in 
some  manner  or  other :  that  is  the  general. 

It  remains  to  inquire  into  the  manner;  which  I  re- 
solve into  two  kinds : 

1.  Ordinary,  which  I   suppose  to  be  his  invisible 
motions  as  a  spirit ;  under  which  consideration  I  sup- 
pose  him   to   have   an    unconfined,  unlimited,  unre- 
strained liberty,  as  to  the  manner  of  acting;  and  this 
either  in  persons,  by  possession ;  or  in  things;  by  agi- 
tation. 

2.  Extraordinary ;  which  I  understand  to  be   his 
appearances  in  borrowed  shapes  and  bodies,  or  shadows 
rather   of  bodies  ;    assuming  speech,  figure,  posture, 
and  several  powers,  of  which  we  can  give  little  or  no 
account;    in   which  extraordinary  maner  of  appear- 
ances, he   is  either  limited   by  a  superior  power,  or 
limits  himself  politically,  as  being  not  the  way  most 
for  his   interest   or  purpose,  to  act   in  his   business, 
which  is  more  effectually  done  in  his  state  of  obscu- 
rity. 

Hence  we  must  suppose  the  Devil  has  it  very  much 
in  his  own  choice,  whether  to  act  in  one  capacity,  or 
in  the  other,  or  in  both ;  that  is  to  say,  of  appearing, 
and  not  appearing,  as  he  finds  for  his  purpose.  In  this 
state  of  invisibility,  and  under  the  operation  of  these 
powers  and  liberties,  he  performs  all  his  functions  and 
offices,  as  devil,  as  prince  of  darkness,  as  god  of  this 
world,  as  tempter,  accuser,  deceiver,  and  all  whatsoever 
other  names  of  office,  or  titles  of  honor,  he  is  known 
by. 

Now  taking  him  in  this  large  unlimited,  or  little 
limited  state  of  action,  he  is  well  called,  the  god  of 
this  world  ;  for  he  has  very  much  of  the  attribute  of 
omnipresence,  and  may  be  said,  either  by  himself,  or 
his  agents,  to  be  everywhere,  and  see  everything;  that 
is  to  say,  everything  that  is  visible;  for  I  cannot  allow 
him  any  share  of  omniscience  at  all. 

That  he  rages  about  everywhere,  is  with  us.  and 
sometimes  in  us,  sees  when  he  is  not  seen,  hears  when 
he  is  not  heard,  comes  in  without  leave,  and  goes  out 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  175 

without  noise;  is  neither  to  be  shut  in,  or  shut  out; 
that  when  he  runs  from  us,  we  cannot  catch  him;  arid 
when  he  runs  after  us,  we  cannot  escape  him ;  is  seen 
when  he  is  not  known,  and  is  known  when  he  is  not 
seen ;  all  these  things,  and  more,  we  have  knowledge 
enough  about,  to  convince  us  of  the  truth  of  them; 
so  that,  as  I  have  said  above,  he  is  certainly  walking 
to  and  fro  through  the  earth,  &c.  after  some  manner 
or  other,  and  in  some  figure  or  other,  visible  or  in- 
visible, as  he  finds  occasion.  Now,  in  order  to  make 
our  history  of  him  complete,  the  next  question  before 
us  is,  how,  and  in  what  manner,  he  acts  with  man- 
kind ?  How  his  kingdom  is  carried  on  ;  and  by  what 
methods  he  does  his  business,  for  he  certainly  has  a 
great  deal  of  business  to  do ;  he  is  not  an  idle  specta- 
tor, nor  is  he  walking  about  incognito,  and  clothed  in 
mist  and  darkness,  purely  in  kindness  to  us,  that  we 
should  not  be  frighted  at  him;  but  it  is  in  policy,  that 
he  may  act  undiscovered,  that  he  may  see  and  not  be 
seen,  may  play  his  game  in  the  dark,  and  not  be  de- 
tected in  his  roguery ;  that  he  may  prompt  mischief, 
raise  tempests,  blow  up  coals,  kindle  strife,  embroil 
nations,  use  instruments,  and  not  be  known  to  have 
his  hand  in  anything;  when  at  the  same  time  he 
really  has  an  hand  in  everything. 

Some  are  of  opinion,  and  I  among  the  rest,  that  if 
the  Devil  was  personally  and  visibly  present  among 
us,  and  we  conversed  with  him  face  to  face,  we  should 
be  so  familiar  with  him  in  a  little  time,  that  his  ugly 
figure  would  not  affect  us  at  all ;  that  his  terrors  would 
not  fright  us  ;  or  that  we  should  any  more  trouble  our- 
selves about  him,  than  we  did  with  the  great  comet  in 
1678,  which  appeared  so  long,  and  so  constantly, 
without  any  particular  known  event,  that  at  last  we 
took  no  more  notice  of  it,  than  of  the  other  ordinary 
stars  which  had  appeared  before  we  or  our  ancestors 
were  born. 

Nor  indeed  should  we  have  much  reason  to  be 
frighted  at  him,  or  at  least  none  of  those  silly  things 
could  be  said  of  him,  which  we  now  amuse  ourselves 
about,  and  by  which  we  set  him  up,  like  a  scare-crow, 
to  fright  children  and  old  women,  to  fill  up  old  stories, 
make  songs  and  ballads  ;  and,  in  a  word,  carry  on  the 


176  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

low-prized  buffoonry  of  the  common  people ;  we  should 
either  see  him  in  his  angelic  form,  as  he  was  from 
the  original;  or,  if  he  has  any  deformities  entailed 
upon  him  by  the  supreme  sentence,  and  injustice  to 
the  deformity  of  his  crime,  they  would  be  of  a  superior 
nature,  and  fitted  more  for  our  contempt  as  well  as 
horror,  than  those  weak-fancied  trifles  contrived  by 
our  ancient  devil-raisers  and  devil-makers,  to  feed  the 
wayward  fancies  of  old  witches  and  sorcerers,  who 
cheated  the  ignorant  world  with  a  devil  of  their  own 
making,  set  forth  in  terror,  with  bat's  wings,  horns, 
cloven  foot,  long  tail,  forked  tongue,  and  the  like. 

In  the  next  place,  be  his  frightful  figure  what  it 
would,  and  his  legions  as  numerous  as  the  host  of 
heaven,  we  should  see  him  still,  as  the  prince  of  devils, 
though  monstrous  as  a  dragon,  flaming  as  a  comet,  tall 
as  a  mountain,  yet  dragging  his  chain  after  him  equal 
to  the  utmost  of  his  supposed  strength  ;  always  in  cus- 
tody of  his  gaolers  the  angels,  his  power  overpowered, 
his  rage  cowed  and  abated,  or  at  least  awed,  and  un- 
der correction,  limited  and  restrained;  in  a  word,  we 
should  see  him  a  vanquished  slave,  his  spirit  broken, 
his  malice,  though  not  abated,  yet  hand-cuffed  and 
overpowered,  and  he  not  able  to  work  anything  against 
us  by  force;  so  that  he  would  be  to  us  but  like  the 
lions  in  the  tower,  engaged  and  lacked  up,  unable  to 
do  the  hurt  he  wishes  to  do,  and  that  we  fear,  or  in- 
deed any  hurt  at  all. 

From  hence  it  is  evident,  that  it  is  not  his  business 
to  be  public,  or  to  walk  up  and  down  in  the  world 
visibly,  and  in  his  own  shape;  his  affairs  require  a 
quite  different  management,  as  might  be  made  appa- 
rent from  the  nature  of  things,  and  the  manner  of 
our  actings,  as  men,  either  with  ourselves,  or  to  one 
another. 

Nor  could  he  be  serviceable  in  his  generation,  as  a 
public  person,  as  now  he  is,  or  answer  the  end  of  his 
party  who  employ  him.  and  who,  if  he  was  to  do  their 
business  in  public,  as  he  does  in  private,  would  not  be 
able  to  employ  him  at  all. 

As  in  our  modem  meetings  for  the  propagation  of 
impudence,  and  other  virtues,  there  would  be  no  enter- 
tainment, and  no  improvement  for  the  good  of  the  age. 


THB    MODERN   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  177 

if  the  people  did  not  all  appear  in  masque,  and  con- 
cealed from  the  common  observation ;  so  neither  could 
Satan  (from  whose  management  those  more  happy 
assemblies  are  taken,  as  copies  of  a  glorious  original,) 
perform  the  usual  and  necessary  business  of  his  pro- 
fession, if  he  did  not  appear  wholly  in  covert,  and  un- 
der needful  disguises.  How,  but  for  the  convenience 
of  his  habit,  could  he  cast  himself  into  so  many  shapes, 
act  on  so  many  different  scenes,  and  turn  so  many 
wheels  of  state  in  the  world,  as  he  has  done?  as  a  mere 
professed  devil  he  could  do  nothing. 

Had  he  been  obliged  always  to.  act  the  mere  devil  in 
his  own  clothes,  and  with  his  own  shape,  appearing 
uppermost  in  all  cases  and  places,  he  could  never  have 
preached  in  so  many  pulpits,  presided  in  so  many 
councils,  voted  in  so  many  committees,  sat  in  so  many 
courts,  and  influenced  so  many  parties  and  factions  in 
church  and  state,  as  we  have  reason  to  believe  he  has 
done  in  our  nation,  and  in  our  memories  too,  as  well 
as  in  other  nations  and  in  more  ancient  times.  The 
share  Satan  has  had  in  all  the  weighty  confusions  of  the 
times,  ever  since  the  first  ages  of  Christianity  in  the 
world,  has  been  carried  on  with  so  much  secrecy,  and 
so  much  with  an  air  of  cabal  and  intrigue,  that  nothing 
can  have  been  managed  more  subtly  and  closely ;  and 
in  the  same  manner  has  he  acted  in  our  times  in  order 
to  conceal  his  interest,  and  the  influence  he  has  had  in 
the  councils  of  the  world. 

Had  it  been  possible  for  him  to  have  raised  the  flames 
of  rebellion  and  war  so  often  in  this  nation,  as  he  cer- 
tainly has  done?  Could  he  have  agitated  the  parties 
on  both  sides,  and  inflamed  the  spirits  of  three  nations, 
if  he  had  appeared  in  his  own  dress,  a  mere  naked 
devil?  It  is  not  the  Devil  as  a  devil  that  does  the 
mischief,  but  the  Devil  in  masquerade,  Satan  in  full 
disguise,  and  acting  at  the  head  of  civil  confusion  and 
distraction. 

If  history  may  be  credited,  the  French  court  at  the 
time  of  our  old  confusions  was  made  the  scene  of 
Satan's  politics,  and  prompted  both  parties  in  England 
and  in  Scotland  also,  to  quarrel ;  and  how  was  it 
done  ?  Will  any  man  offer  to  scandalize  the  Devil  so 
much  as  to  say,  or  so  much  as  to  suggest,  that  Satan 


179  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

had  no  hand  in  it?  Did  not  the  Devil,  by  the  agency 
of  Cardinal  Richelieu,  send  four  hundred  thousand 
crowns  at  one  time,  and  six  hundred  thousand  at 
another,  to  the  Scots,  to  raise  an  army,  and  march 
boldly  into  England?  and  did  not  the  same  Devil,  at 
the  same  time,  by  other  agents,  remit  eight  hundred 
thousand  crowns  to  the  other  party,,  in  order  to  raise 
an  army  to  fall  upon  the  Scots?  Nay,  did  not  the 
Devil,  with  the  same  subtlety,  send  down  the  Arch- 
bishop's order  to  impose  the  service-book  upon  the 
people  in  Scotland ;  and  at  the  same  time  raise  a  mob 
against  it,  in  the  great  church  (at  St.  Giles's)?  Nay, 
did  not  he  actually,  in  the  person  of  an  old  woman, 
(his  favorite  instrument,)  throw  the  three-legged  stool 
at  the  service-book,  and  animate  the  zealous  people  to 
take  up  arms  for  religion,  and  turn  rebels  for  God's 
sake  ? 

All  these  happy  and  successful  undertakings,  though 
it  is  no  more  to  be  doubted  they  were  done  by  the 
agency  of  Satan,  and  in  a  very  surprising  manner  too, 
yet  were  all  done  in  secret,  by  what  I  call  possession 
and  injection,  and  by  the  agency  and  contrivance  of 
such  instruments,  or  by  the  Devil  in  the  disguise  of 
such  servants  as  he  found  out  fitted  to  be  employed  in 
his  work,  and  whom  he  took  a  more  effectual  care  in 
concealing  of. 

But  we  shall  have  occasion  to  touch  all  this  part 
over  again,  when  we  come  to  discourse  of  the  par- 
ticular habits  and  disguises  which  the  Devil  has 
made  use  of,  all  along  in  the  world,  the  better  to  cover 
his  actions,  and  to  conceal  his  being  concerned  in 
them. 

In  the  mean  time  the  cunning  or  artifice  the  Devil 
makes  use  of  in  all  these  things  is  in  itself  very  con- 
siderable; it  is  an  old  practice  of  his  using,  and  he  has 
gone  on  in  divers  measures,  for  the  better  concealing 
himself  in  it;  which  measures,  though  he  varies  some- 
times, as  his  extraordinary  affairs  require,  yet  they  are 
in  all  ages  much  the  same,  and  have  the  same  ten- 
dency ;  namely,  that  he  may  get  all  his  business  car- 
ried on  by  the  instrumentality  of  fools ;  that  he  may 
make  mankind  agents  in  their  own  destruction ;  and 
that  he  may  have  all  his  work  done  in  such'  a  manner 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  179 

as  that  he  may  seem  to  have  no  hand  in  it;  nay,  he 
contrives  so  well,  that  the  very  name  devil  is  put  upon 
his  opposite  party,  and  the  scandal  of  the  black  agent 
lies  all  upon  them. 

In  order  then  to  look  a  little  into  his  conduct,  let  us 
inquire  into  the  common  mistakes  about  him,  see  what 
use  is  made  of  them  to  his  advantage,  and  how  far 
mankind  is  imposed  upon  in  those  particulars,  anoTo 
what  purpose. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Of  Satan's  agents  or  missionaries,  and  their  actings 
upon  and  in  the  winds  of  me?i,  in  his  name. 

INFINITE  advantages  attend  the  Devil  in  his  retired 
government,  as  they  respect  the  management  of  his 
interests,  and  the  carrying  on  his  absolute  monarchy 
in  the  world ;  particularly  as  it  gives  him  room  to  act 
by  the  agency  of  his  inferior  ministers  and  messengers, 
called  on  many  occasions  his  angels,  of  whom  he  has 
an  innumerable  multitude  at  his  command,  enough,  for 
aught  we  know,  to  spare  one  to  attend  every  man  and 
woman  now  alive  in  the  world ;  and  of  whom,  if  we 
may  believe  our  second  sight  Christians,  the  air  is 
always  as  full  as  a  beam  of  the  evening  sun  is  of  in- 
sects, where  they  are  ever  ready  for  business,  and  to 
go  and  come  as  their  great  governor  issues  out  orders 
for  their  directions. 

These,  as  they  are  all  of  the  same  spirituous  quality 
with  himself,  and  consequently  invisible  like  him,  ex- 
cept as  above,  are  ready  upon  all  occasions  to  be  sent 
to  and  into  any  such  person,  and  for  such  purposes, 
superior  limitations  only  excepted,  as  the  grand  direc- 
tor of  devils,  (the  Devil,  properly  so  called.)  guides 
them ;  and  be  the  subject,  or  the  object,  what  it  will, 
that  is  to  say,  be  the  person  they  are  sent  to.  or  into, 
as  above,  who  it  will,  and  the  business  the  messenger 
is  to  do  what  it  will,  they  are  sufficiently  qualified; 
for  this  is  a  particular  to  Satan's  messengers  or  agents, 
that  they  are  not  like  us  human  devils  here  in  the 


180  THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

world,  some  bred  up  one  way,  and  some  another, 
some  of  one  trade,  some  of  another,  and  consequently 
some  fit  for  some  business,  some  for  another,  some 
good  for  something,  and  some  good  for  nothing,  but 
his  people  are  every  one  fit  for  everything,  can  find 
their  way  everywhere,  and  are  a  match  for  everybody 
they  are  sent  to  ;  in  a  word,  there  are  no  foolish 
devils,  they  are  all  fully  qualified  for  their  employ- 
ment, fit  for  anything  he  sets  them  about,  and  very 
seldom  mistake  their  errand,  or  fail  in  the  business 
they  are  sent  to  do. 

Nor  is  it  strange  at  all,  that  the  Devil  should  have 
such  a  numberless  train  of  deputy  devils  to  act  under 
him;  for  it  must  be  acknowledged  he  has  a  great  deal 
of  business  upon  his  hands,  a  vast  deal  of  work  to  do, 
abundance  of  public  affairs  under  his  direction,  and  an 
infinite  variety  of  particular  cases  always  before  him. 
For  example  : 

How  many  governments  in  the  world  are  wholly  in 
his  administration  ?  How  many  divans  and  great 
councils  under  his  direction  1  Nay,  I  believe,  it  would 
be  hard  to  prove,  that  there  is  or  has  been  one  council 
of  state  in  the  world  for  many  hundred  years  past, 
down  to  the  year  1713,  (we  do  not  pretend  to  come 
nearer  home,)  where  the  Devil  by  himself,  or  his 
agents,  in  one  shape  or  another,  has  not  sat  as  a  mem- 
ber, if  not  taken  the  chair. 

And  though  some  learned  authors  may  dispute  this 
point  with  me,  by  giving  some  examples,  where  the 
councils  of  princes  have  been  acted  by  a  better  hand, 
and  where  things  have  been  carried  against  Satan's 
interest,  and  even  to  his  great  mortification,  it  amounts 
to  no  more  than  this ;  namely,  that  in  such  cases  the 
Devil  has  been  outvoted ;  but  it  does  not  argue  but  he 
might  have  been  present  there,  and  have  pushed  his 
interest  as  far  as  he^could,  only  that  he  had  not  the 
success  he  expected ;  for  I  don't  pretend  to  say  that  he 
has  never  been  disappointed;  but  those  examples  are 
so  rare,  and  of  so  small  signification,  that  when  I 
come  to  the  particulars,  as  I  shall  do  in  the  sequel  of 
this  history,  you  will  find  them  hardly  worth  naming; 
and  that,  take  it  one  time  with  another,  the  Devil  has 
met  with  such  a  series  of  success  in  all  his  affairs,  and 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  181 

has  so  seldom  been  balked;  and  where  he  has  met 
with  a  little  check  in  his  politics,  has,  notwithstanding, 
so  soon,  and  so  easily  recovered  himself,  regained  his 
lost  ground,  or  replaced  himself  in  another  country, 
when  he  has  been  supplanted  in  one,  that  his  empire 
is  far  from  being  lessened  in  the  world  for  the  last 
thousand  years  of  the  Christian  establishment. 

Suppose  we  take  an  observation  from  the  beginning 
of  Luther,  or  from  the  year  1420,  and  call  the  Refor- 
mation a  blow  to  the  Devil's  kingdom,  which  before 
that  was  come  to  such  an  height  in  Christendom,  that 
it  is  a  question  not  yet  thoroughly  decided,  whether 
that  medley  of  superstition  and  horrible  heresies,  that 
mass  of  enthusiasm  and  idols,  called  the  Catholic 
hierarchy,  was  a  church  of  God,  or  a  church  of  the 
Devil  ;  whether  it  was  an  assembly  of  saints,  or  a 
synagogue  of  Satan :  I  say,  take  that  time  to  be  the 
epoch  of  Satan's  declension,  and  of  Lucifer's  falling 
from  heaven,  that  is,  from  the  top  of  his  terrestrial 
glory ;  yet,  whether  he  did  not  gain  in  the  defection 
of  the  Greek  church,  about  that  time,  and  since,  as 
much  as  he  lost  in  the  reformation  of  the  Roman,  is 
what  authors  are  not  yet  agreed  about,  not  reckoning 
what  he  has  regained  since  of  the  ground  which  he 
had  lost  even  by  the  reformation ;  namely,  the  coun- 
tries of  the  Duke  of  Savoy's  dominion,  where  the 
reformation  is  almost  eaten  out  by  persecution ;  the 
whole  Valtoline,  and  some  adjacent  countries  ;  the 
whole  kingdom  of  Poland,  and  almost  all  Hungary ; 
for,  since  the  last  war,  the  reformation,  as  it  were,  lies 
gasping  for  breath,  and  expiring,  in  that  country ;  also 
several  large  provinces  in  Germany,  as  Austria, 
Carinthia,  and  the  whole  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  where 
the  reformation  once  powerfully  planted,  received  its 
death's  wound  at.  the  battle  of  Prague,  anno  1627,  and 
languished  but  a  very  little  while,  died,  and  was 
buried,  and  good  king  Popery  reigned  in  its  stead. 

To  these  countries  thus  regained  to  Satan's  infernal 
empire,  let  us  add  his  modern  conquests,  and  the  en- 
croachments he  has  made  upon  the  reformation  in  the 
present  age,  which  are,  however  light  we  make  of 
them,  very  considerable ;  namely,  the  Electorate  of 
the  Rhine,  and  the  Palatinate,  the  one  fallen  to  the 
16 


182  THE    MODERN   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEYIL, 

House  of  Bavaria,  and  the  other  to  that  of  Newburgrr, 
both  popish  ;  the  Duchy  of  Deux  Fonts  fallen  just 
now  to  a  popish  branch,  the  whole  Electorate  of  Sax- 
ony fallen  under  the  power  of  popish  government  by 
the  apostasy  of  their  princes,  and  more  likely  to  follow 
the  fate  of  Bohemia,  whenever  the  diligent  Devil  can 
bring  his  new  project  in  Poland  to  bear,  as  it  is  more 
than  probable  he  will  do  some  time  or  other. 

But  to  sum  up  the  dull  story ;  we  must  add,  in  the 
roll  of  the  Devil's  conquests,  the  whole  kingdom  of 
France,  where  we  have  in  one  year  seen,  to  the  im- 
mortal glory  of  the  Devil's  politics,  that  his  measures 
have  prevailed  to  the  total  extirpation  of  the  protestant 
churches  without  a  war ;  and  that  interest,  which  for 
two  hundred  years  had  supported  itself  in  spite  of 
persecutions,  massacres,  five  civil  wars,  and  innumer- 
able battles  and  slaughters,  at  last  received  its  mortal 
wound  from  its  own  champion,  Henry  IV.,  and  sunk 
into  utter  oblivion,  by  Satan's  most  exquisite  manage- 
ment, under  the  agency  of  his  two  prime  ministers, 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  and  Louis  the  XlVth.  whom  he 
entirely  possessed. 

Thus  far  we  have  a  melancholy  view  of  the  Devil's 
new  conquests,  and  the  ground  he  has  regained  upon 
the  reformation  ;  in  which  his  secret  management  has 
been  so  exquisite,  and  his  politics  so  good,  that  could 
he  but  bring  one  thing  to  pass,  which  by  his  own  for- 
mer mistake  (for  the  Devil  is  not  infallible,)  he  has 
rendered  impossible,  he  would  bring  the  protestant 
interest  so  near  its  ruin,  that  heaven  would  be,  as  it 
were,  put  to  the  necessity  of  working  by  miracle  to 
prevent  it ;  the  case  is  thus  : 

Ancient  historians  tell  us,  and  from  good  authority, 
that  the  Devil  finding  it  for  his  interest  to  bring  his 
favorite,  Mahomet,  upon  the  stage,  and  spread  the  vic- 
torious half-moon  upon  the  ruin  of  the  cross,  having, 
with  great  success,  raised  first  the  Saracen  empire,  and 
then  the  Turkish,  to  such  an  height,  as  that  the  name 
of  Christian  seemed  to  be  extirpated  in  those  two 
quarters  of  the  world,  which  were  then  not  the  great- 
est only,  but  by  far  the  most  powerful,  I  mean  Asia 
and  Africa  ;  having  totally  laid  waste  all  those  ancient 
and  flourishing  churches  of  Africa,  the  labors  of  St. 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF  THE    DEVIL.  183 

Cyprian,  Tert Lillian,  St.  Augustine,  and  six  hundred 
and  seventy  Christian  bishops  and  fathers,  who  gov- 
erned there  at  once ;  also  all  the  churches  of  Smyrna, 
Philadelphia,  Ephesus,  Sardis,  Antioch,  Laodicea,  and 
innumerable  others  in  Pontus,  Bithynia,  and  the  pro- 
vinces of  the  lesser  Asia  ; 

The  Devil  having,  I  say,  finished  these  conquests  so 
much  to  his  satisfaction,  began  to  turn  his  eyes  north- 
ward ;  and  though  he  had  a  considerable  interest  in  the 
Whore  of  Babylon,  and  had  brought  his  power,  by  the 
subjection  of  the  Roman  hierarchy,  to  a  great  height, 
yet  finding  the  interest  of  Mahomet  most  suitable  to 
his  devilish  purposes,  as  most  adapted  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  mankind,  and  laying  waste  the  world,  he 
resolved  to  espouse  the  growing  power  of  the  Turk, 
and  bring  him  in  upon  Europe  like  a  deluge. 

In  order  to  this,  and  to  make  way  for  an  easy  con- 
quest, like  a  true  devil,  he  worked  under  ground,  and 
sapped  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  power,  by  sow- 
ing discord  among  the  reigning  princes  of  Europe; 
that  so  envying  one  another,  they  might  be  content  to 
stand  still  and  look  on,  while  the  Turk  devoured  them 
one  by  one,  and,  at  last,  might  swallow  them  all  up. 

This  devilish  policy  took  to  his  heart's  content ;  the 
Christian  princes  stood  still,  stupid,  dozing  and  uncon- 
cerned, till  the  Turk  conquered  Thrace,  overrun  Ser- 
via,  Macedonia,  Bulgaria,  and  all  the  remains  of  the 
Grecian  empire,  and  last  the  imperial  city  of  Constan- 
tinople itself. 

Finding  this  politic  method  so  well  answer  his  ends, 
the  Devil,  who  always  improves  upon  the  success  of 
his  own  experiments,  resolved,  from  that  time,  to  lay 
a  foundation  for  the  making  those  divisions  and  jeal- 
ousies of  the  Christian  princes  immortal ;  whereas  they 
were  at  first  only  personal,  and  founded  in  private 
quarrels  between  the  princes  respectively  ;  such  as 
emulation  of  one  another's  glory,  envy  at  the  extraor- 
dinary valor,  or  other  merit,  of  this  or  that  leader,  or 
revenge  of  some  little  affront  ;  for  which,  notwith- 
standing, so  great  was  the  piety  of  Christian  princes 
in  those  days,  that  they  made  no  scruple  to  sacrifice 
whole  armies,  yea,  nations,  to  their  piques,  and  pri- 


184  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

vate  quarrels  ;  a  certain  sign  whose  management  they 
were  under. 

These  being  the  causes  by  which  the  Devil  first 
sowed  the  seeds  of  mischief  among  them,  and  the  suc- 
cess so  well  answering  his  design,  he  could  not  but 
wish  to  have  the  same  advantage  always  ready  at  his 
hand;  and  therefore  he  resolved  to  order  it  so,  that 
these  divisions,  which,  however  useful  to  him,  were 
only  personal,  and  consequently  temporary,  like  an 
annual  in  the  garden,  which  must  be  raised  anew 
every  season,  might  for  the  future  be  rational,  and 
consequently  durable  and  immortal. 

To  this  end  it  was  necessary  to  lay  the  foundation 
of  eternal  feud,  not  in  the  humors  and  passions  of  men 
only,  but  in  the  interests  of  nations.  The  way  to  do 
this  was  to  form  and  state  the  dominion  of  those 

Erinces,  by  such  a  plan  drawn  in  hell,  and  laid  out 
*om  a  scheme  truly  political,  of  which  the  Devil  was 
chief  engineer ;  that  the  divisions  should  always 
remain,  being  made  a  natural  consequence  of  the  situ- 
ation of  the  country,  the  temper  of  their  people,  the 
nature  of  their  commerce,  the  climate,  the  manner  of 
living,  or  something  which  should  for  ever  render  it 
impossible  for  them  to  unite. 

This,  I  say,  was  a  scheme  truly  infernal,  in  which 
the  Devil  was  as  certainly  the  principal  operator,  to 
illustrate  great  things  by  small,  as  ever  John  of  Ley- 
den  was  of  the  High  Dutch  rebellion,  or  Sir  John 

B 1  of  the  late  project,  called  the  South  Sea  Stock. 

Nor  did  this  contrivance  of  the  Devil  at  all  dishonor 
its  author,  or  the  success  appear  unworthy  of  the 
undertaker ;  for  we  see  it  not  only  answered  the  end, 
and  made  the  Turk  victorious  at  the  same  time,  and 
formidable  to  Europe  ever  after,  but  it  works  to  this 
day ;  the  foundation  of  the  divisions  remains  in  all  the 
several  nations,  and  that  to  such  a  degree,  that  it  is 
impossible  they  should  unite. 

This  is  what  I  hinted  before,  in  which  the  Devil 
was  mistaken,  and  is  another  instance  that  he  knows 
nothing  of  what  is  to  come;  for  this  very  foundation 
of  immortal  jealousy  and  discord  between  the  several 
nations  of  Spain,  France,  Germany  and  others,  which 
the  Devil  himself,  with  so  much  policy,  contrived,  and 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY  OF    THE    DEVIL.  185 

which  served  his  interests  so  long,  is  now  the  only  ob- 
struction to  his  designs,  and  prevents  the  entire  ruin  of 
the  reformation ;  for  though  the  reformed  countries  are 
very  powerful,  and  some  of  them,  as  Great  Britain  and 
Prussia  are  particularly,  more  powerful  than  ever;  yet 
it  cannot  be  said  that  the  Protestant  interests  in  gene- 
ral are  stronger  than  formerly,  or  so  strong  as  they 
were  in  1623,  under  the  victorious  arms  of  the  Swede. 
On  the  other  hand,  were  it  possible  that  the  popish 
powers,  to  wit,  of  France,  Spain,  Germany,  Italy,  and 
Poland,  which  are  entirely  popish,  could  heartily  unite 
their  interests,  and  should  join  their  powers  to  attack 
the  Protestants,  the  latter  would  find  it  very  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  to  defend  themselves. 

But  as  fatal  as  such  an  union  of  the  popish  powers 
would  be,  and  as  useful  as  it  would  be  to  the  Devil's 
cause  at  this  time,  not  the  Devil  with  all  his  angels  is 
able  to  bring  it  to  pass ;  no,  not  with  all  his  craft  and 
cunning;  he  divided  them,  out  he  cannot  unite  them; 
so  that  even  just  as  it  is  Avith  men,  so  it  is  with  devils, 
they  may  do  in  an  hour  what  they  cannot  undo  in  an 
age. 

This  may  comfort  those  faint-hearted  Christians 
among  us,  who  cry  out  of  the  dangers  of  religious  war 
in  Europe,  and  what  terrible  things  will  happen  when 
France,  and  Spain,  and  Germany,  and  Italy,  and  Po- 
land, shall  all  unite.  Let  this  answer  satisfy  them, 
the  Devil  himself  can  never  make  France  and  Spain, 
or  France  and  the  emperor,  unite ;  jarring  humors  may 
be  reconciled,  but  jarring  interests  never  can.  They 
may  unite  so  as  to  make  peace,  though  that  can  hardly 
be  long,  but  never  so  as  to  make  conquests  together; 
they  are  too  much  afraid  of  one  another,  for  one  to  bear 
that  any  addition  of  strength  should  come  to  the  other. 
But  this  is  a  digression.  We  shall  find  the  Devil  mis- 
taken and  disappointed  too  on  several  occasions,  as  we 
go  along, 

I  return  to  Satan's  interest  in  the  several  govern- 
ments and  nations,  by  virtue  of  his  invisibility,  and 
which  he  carries  on  by  possession :  it  is  by  this  invis- 
ibility that  he  presides  in  all  the  councils  of  foreign 
powers ;  (for  we  never  mean  our  own,  that  we  always 
premise;)  and  what  though  it  is  alleged  by  the  critics, 


186  THE   MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

that  he  does  not  preside,  because  there  is  always  a 
president;  I  say,  if  he  is  not  in  the  president's  chair, 
yet  if  he  be  in  the  president  himself,  the  difference  is 
not  much ;  and  if  he  does  not  vote  as  a  counsellor,  if 
he  votes  in  the  counsellor,  it  is  much  the  same;  and 
here,  as  it  was  in  the  story  of  Abab,  the  king  of  Israel, 
as  he  was  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouths  of  all  his  proph- 
ets; so  we  find  him  a  spirit  of  some  particular  evil 
quality  or  other,  in  all  the  transactions  and  transactors 
on  that  stage  of  life  we  call  the  state. 

Thus  he  was  a  dissembling  spirit  in  Charles  IX.,  a 
turbulent  spirit  in  Charles  V.  emperor ;  a  bigoted  spirit 
of  fire  and  fagot  in  our  Queen  Mary  ;  an  apostate 
spirit  in  Henry  IV.  ;  a  cruel  spirit  in  Peter  of  Castile ; 
a  revengeful  spirit  in  Ferdinand  II.  ;  a  phaeton  in 
Louis  XIV. ;  a  Sardanapalus  in  C II. 

In  the  great  men  of  the  world,  take  them  a  degree 
lower  than  the  class  of  crowned  heads,  he  has  the 
same  secret  influence;  and  hence  it  comes  to  pass,  that 
the  greatest  heroes,  and  men  of  the  highest  character 
for  achievements  of  glory,  either  by  their  virtue  or 
valor;  however  they  have  been  crowned  with  victories, 
and  elevated  by  human  tongues,  whatever  the  most 
consummate  virtues  or  good  qualities  they  have  been 
known  by,  yet  they  have  always  had  some  devil  or 
other  in  them,  to  preserve  Satan's  claim  to  them  unin- 
terrupted, and  prevent  their  escape  out  of  his  hands; 
thus  we  have  seen  a  bloody  devil  in  a  D' Alva ;  a  pro- 
fligate devil  in  a  Buckingham  ;  a  lying,  artful,  or 
politic  devil  in  a  Richelieu ;  a  treacherous  devil  in  a 
Mazarin ;  a  cruel,  merciless  devil  in  a  Cortez ;  a  de- 
bauched devil  in  an  Eugene ;  a  conjuring  devil  in  a 

Luxemburg  ;  and  a  covetous  devil  in  a  M h.     In 

a  word,  tell  me  the  man,  I  will  tell  you  the  spirit  that 
reigned  in  him. 

Nor  does  he  thus  carry  on  his  secret  management  by 
possession  in  men  of  the  first  magnitude  only;  but 
have  you  not  had  evidences  of  it  among  ourselves? 
How  has  he  been  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouths  of  our 
prophets,  a  factious  spirit  in  the  heads  of  our  politicians, 
a  proud  spirit  in  my  Lord  Plausible,  a  bullying  spirit 
in  my  Lord  Bugbear,  a  talkative  spirit  in  his  grace  the 
duke  of  Rattle-hail,  a  scribbling  spirit  in  my  Lord 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  187 

Hateful,  a  run-away  spirit  in  my  Lord  Frightful ;  and 
so  through  a  long  roll  of  heroes,  whose  exceeding  and 
particular  qualifications  proclaim  loudly  what  handle 
the  Devil  took  them  by,  and  how  fast  he  held  them  ! 
for  these  were  all  men  of  ancient  fame ;  I  hope  you 
know  that. 

From  men  of  figure,  we  descend  to  the  mob,  and  it 
is  there  the  same  thing.  Possession,  like  the  plague, 
is  morbus  plebcei :  not  a  family  but  he  is  a  spirit  of 
strife  and  contention  among  them :  not  a  man  but  he 
has  a  part  in  him ;  he  is  a  drunken  devil  in  one,  a  vile 
devil  in  another,  a  thieving  devil  in  a  third,  a  lying 
devil  in  a  fourth,  and  so  on  to  a  thousand,  and  an 
hundred  thousand,  ad  infinitum. 

Nay,  even  the  ladies  have  their  share  in  the  posses- 
sion ;  and  if  they  have  not  the  Devil  in  their  heads, 
in  their  faces,  or  their  tongues,  it  must  be  some  poor 
despicable  devil  that  Satan  did  not  think  it  worth  his 
while  to  meddle  with ;  and  the  number  of  those  that 
are  below  his  operation,  I  doubt  is  very  small.  But 
that  part  I  have  much  more  to  say  to  in  its  place. 

From  degrees  of  persons,  to  professions  and  employ- 
ments, it  is  the  same.  We  find  the  Devil  is  a  true 
posture-master,  he  assumes  any  dress,  appears  in  any 
shape,  counterfeits  every  voice,  acts  upon  every  stage  ; 
here  he  wears  a  gown,  there  a  long  robe ;  here  he  wears 
the  jack-boots,  there  the  small  sword ;  is  here  an  en- 
thusiast, there  a  buffoon ;  on  this  side  he  acts  the 
mountebank,  on  that  side  the  merry  Andrew ;  nothing 
comes  amiss  to  him,  from  the  great  Mogul  to  the 
scaramouch;  the  Devil  is  in  them,  more  or  less,  and 
plays  his  game  so  well,  that  he  makes  sure  work  with 
them  all.  He  knows  where  the  common  foible  lies, 
which  is  universal  passion,  what  handle  to  take  hold 
of  every  man  by,  and  how  to  cultivate  his  interest  so, 
as  not  to  fail  of  his  end,  or  mistake  the  means. 

How  then  can  it  be  denied  but  that  his  acting  thus 
in  tenebris,  and  keeping  out  of  the  sight  of  the  world, 
is  abundantly  his  interest ;  and  that  he  could  do  nothing 
comparatively  speaking,  by  any  other  method? 

Infinite  variety  illustrates  the  Devil's  reign  among 
the  sons  of  men ;  all  which  he  manages  with  admira- 
ble dexterity,  and  a  slight  particular  to  himself,  by  the 


188  THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

mere  advantage  of  his  present  concealed  situation,  and 
which,  had  he  been  obliged  to  have  appeared  in  public, 
had  been  all  lost,  and  he  capable  of  just  nothing  at 
all,  or  at  least  of  nothing  more  than  the  other  ordinary 
politicians  of  wickedness  could  have  done  without 
him. 

Now,  authors  are  much  divided  as  to  the  manner 
how  the  Devil  manages  his  proper  instruments  for  mis- 
chief; for  Satan  has  a  great  many  agents  in  the  dark, 
who  neither  have  the  Devil  in  them,  nor  are  they  much 
acquainted  with  him,  and  yet  he  serves  himself  of 
them,  whether  of  their  folly,  or  of  that  other  frailty 
called  wit,  it  is  all  one,  he  makes  them  do  his  work, 
when  they  think  they  are  doing  their  own ;  nay,  so 
cunning  is  he  in  his  guiding  the  weak  part  of  the  world, 
that  even  when  they  think  they  are  serving  God,  they 
are  doing  nothing  less  or  more  than  serving  the  Devil ; 
nay,  it  is  some  of  the  nicest  part  of  his  operation,  to 
make  them  believe  they  are  serving  God,,  when  they 
are  doing  his  work.  Thus  those  who  the  Scripture 
foretold  should  persecute  Christ's  church  in  the  latter 
days,  were  to  think  they  do  God  good  service.  Thus 
the  Inquisition  (for  example,)  it  may  be,  at  this  time, 
in  all  the  acts  of  Christian  cruelty  which  they  are  so 
famous  for,  (if  any  of  them  are  ignorant  enough  not  to 
know  that  they  are  devils  incarnate,)  may,  for  ought 
we  know,  go  on  for  God's  sake ;  torture,  murder,  starve 
to  death,  mangle,  and  macerate,  and  all  for  God,  and 
God's  Catholic  church ;  and  it  is  certainly  the  Devil's 
master-piece  to  bring  mankind  to  such  a  perfection  of 
devilisrn  as  that  of  the  Inquisition  is ;  for  if  the  Devil 
had  not  been  in  them,  could  they  christen  such  an  hell- 
fire  judicature  as  the  Inquisition  is,  by  the  name  of  the 
Holy  Office  ?  And  so  in  paganism,  how  could  so  many 
nations  among  the  poor  Indians  offer  human  sacrifices 
to  their  idols,  and  murder  thousands  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  to  appease  this  god  of  the  air,  when  he 
is  angry,  if  the  Devil  did  not  act  in  them  under  the 
vizor  of  devotion  1 

But  we  need  not  go  to  America,  or  to  the  Inquisition, 
not  to  paganism  or  to  popery  either,  to  look  for  people 
that. are  sacrificing  to  the  Devil,  or  that  give  their 
peace-offerings  to  him,  while  they  are  offered  upon 


THE   MODERxN   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  189 

God's  altar.  Are  not  our  churches,  (ay,  and  meeting- 
houses too.  as  much  as  they  pretend  to  be  more  sanc- 
tified than  their  neighbors,)  full  of  Devil- worshippers  7 

Do  not  the  sons  of  God  make  assignations  with  the 
daughters  of  men,  in  the  very  house  of  worship?  Do 
they  not  talk  to  them  in  the  language  of  the  eyes  1 
And  what  is  at  the  bottom  of  it,  while  one  eye  is  upon 
the  prayer  book,  and  the  other  adjusting  their  dress  7 
Are  they  not  sacrificing  to  Venus  and  Mercury,  nay, 
and  the  very  Devil  they  dress  at  ? 

Let  any  man  impartially  survey  the  church  gestures, 
the  air,  the  postures,  and  the  behavior ;  let  him  keep 
an  exact  roll,  and  if  I  do  not  show  him  two  Devil- 
worshippers  for  one  true  saint,  then  the  word  saint 
must  have  another  signification  than  I  ever  yet  under- 
stood by  it. 

The  church  (as  a  place)  is  the  receptacle  of  the  dead, 
as  well  as  the  assembly  of  the  living.  What  relates 
to  those  below,  I  doubt  Satan,  if  he  would  be  so  kind, 
could  give  a  better  account  of  than  I  can ;  but  as  to 
the  superficies,  I  pretend  to  so  much  penetration  as  to 
tell  you,  that  there  are  more  spectres,  more  apparitions 
always  there,  than  you  that  know  nothing  of  the  mat- 
ter, may  be  aware  of. 

I  happened  to  be  at  an  eminent  place  of  God's  most 
devout  worship  the  other  day,  with  a  gentleman  of  my 
acquaintance,  who,  I  observed,  minded  very  little  the 
business  he  ought  to  come  about ;  first  I  saw  him  al- 
ways busy  staring  about  him,  and  bowing  this  way 
and  that  way,  nay  he  made  two  or  three  bows  and 
scrapes  when  he  was  repeating  the  responses  to  the  ten 
commandments,  and  assure  you,  he  made  it  correspond 
strangely,  so  that  the  harmony  was  not  so  broken  in 
upon  as  you  would  e^xpect  it  should.  Thus :  Lord, 
(and  a  bow  to  a  fine  lady  just  come  up  to  her  seat,) 
have  mercy  upon  us  ; — (three  bows  to  a  throng  of  ladies 
that  came  into  the  next  pew  all  together,)  and  incline 
— (then  stopped  to  make  a  great  scrape  to  my  Lord) 
our  hearts — just  then  the  hearts  of  all  the  church  were 
gone  off  from  the  subject,  for  the  response  was  over ; 
so  he  huddled  up  the  rest  in  whispers;  for  God  could 
hear  him  well  enough,  he  said,  nay,  as  well  as  if  he 
had  spoken  as  loud  as  his  neighbors  did. 


190  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

After  we  were  come  home,  I  asked  him  what  he 
meant  by  all  this,  and  what  he  thought  of  it. 

"  How  could  I  help  it?"  said  he,  "I  must  not  be 
rude." 

;c  What,"  said  I,  "  rude  to  whom  ?" 

"  Why,"  says  he,  "  there  came  in  so  many  ladies,  I 
could  not  help  it." 

"  What,"  said  I,  "  could  not  you  help  bowing  when 
you  were  saying  your  prayers  ?" 

"  O  sir  !"  says  he,  "  the  ladies  would  have  thought 
1  had  slighted  them  ;  I  could  riot  avoid  it." 

"  Very  well,"  said  I,  -'  then  you  would  be  rude  to 
God,  because  you  could  not  be  rude  to  the  Devil  ?" 

"  Why,  that  is  true,"  said  he,  "  but  what  can  we 
do  ?  There  is  no  going  to  church,  as  the  case  stands 
now,  if  we  must  not  worship  the  Devil  a  little  between 
whiles." 

This  is  the  case  indeed,  and  Satan  carries  his  point 
on  every  hand ;  for  if  the  fair-speaking  world,  and  the 
fair-looking  world  are  generally  devils,  that  is  to  say, 
are  in  his  management,  we  are  sure  the  foul-speaking 
and  the  foul-doing  world  are  all  on  his  side  ;  and  you 
have  then  only  the  fair-doing  part  of  the  world  that 
are  out  of  his  class ;  and  when  we  speak  of  them,  O 
how  few  ! 

But  I  return  to  the  Devil's  managing  our  wicked 
part ;  for  this  he  does  with  most  exquisite  subtilty ; 
and  this  is  one  part  of  it ;  namely,  he  thrusts  our  vices 
into  our  virtues,  by  which  he  mixes  the  clean  and  the 
unclean  ;  and  thus,  by  the  corruption  of  the  one, 
poisons  and  debauches  the  other,  so  that  the  slave  he 
governs  cannot  account  for  his  own  common  actions, 
and  is  fain  to  be  obliged  to  his  Maker,  to  accept  of  the 
heart,  without  the  hands  and  feqt ;  to  take,  as  we  vul- 
garly express  it,  the  will  for  the  deed,  and  if  Heaven 
was  not  so  good  to  come  into  that  half-and-half  ser- 
vice, I  don't  see  but  the  Devil  would  carry  away  all 
his  servants.  Here  indeed  I  should  enter  into  a  long 
detail  of  involuntary  wickedness,  which,  in  short,  is 
neither  more  nor  less  than  the  Devil  in  everybody,  ay, 
in  every  one  of  you,  (our  governors  excepted,)  take  it 
as  you  please. 

What  is  our  language,  when  we  look  back  with 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  191 

reflection  and  reproach  on  past  follies  ?  I  think  I  was 
bewitched.  I  was  possessed,  certainly  the  Devil  was 
in  me,  or  else  I  had  never  been  such  a  sot.  Devil  in 
you,  sir,  ay,  who  doubts  it  1  you  may  be  sure  the 
Devil  was  in  you,  and  there  he  is  still,  and  next  time 
he  can  catch  you  in  the  same  snare,  you  will  be  just 
the  same  sot  that  you  say  you  were  before. 

In  short,  the  Devil  is  too  cunning  for  us,  and  man- 
ages us  his  own  way ;  he  governs  the  vices  of  men  by 
his  own  methods ;  though  every  crime  will  not  make 
a  man  a  devil,  yet  it  must  be  owned,  that  every  crime 
puts  the  criminal,  in  some  measure,  into  the  Devil's 
power,  gives  him  a  title  to  the  man,  and  he  treats  him 
magisterially  ever  after. 

Some  tell  us  every  single  man,  every  individual,  has 
a  devil  attending  him,  to  execute  the  orders  of  the 
(grand  signor)  Devil  of  the  whole  clan  ;  that  this 
attending  evil  angel,  for  so  he  is  called,  sees  every  step 
you  take,  is  with  you  in  every  action,  prompts  you  to 
every  mischief,  and  leaves  you  to  do  everything  that 
is  pernicious  to  yourself;  they  also  allege,  that  there 
is  a  good  spirit  which  attends  him  too,  which  latter  is 
always  accessory  to  everything  that  we  do  that  is 
good,  and  reluctant  to  evil.  If  this  is  true,  how  comes 
it  to  pass  that  those  two  opposite  spirits  do  not  quarrel 
about  it  when  they  are  pressing  us  to  contrary  actions, 
one  good,  and  the  other  evil  ?  And  why  does  the  evil 
tempting  spirit  so  often  prevail  ?  Instead  of  answering 
this  difficult  question,  I  shall  only  tell  you,  as  to  this 
story  of  good  and  evil  angels  attending  every  partic- 
ular person,  it  is  a  good  allegory  indeed  to  represent 
the  struggles  in  the  mind  of  men,  between  good  and 
evil  inclinations ;  but  to  the  rest,  the  best  thing  I  can 
say  of  it  is,  that  I  think  it  is  a  fib. 

But  to  take  things  as  they  are,  and  only  talk  by  way 
of  natural  consequence,  for  to  argue  from  nature  is 
certainly  the  best  way  to  find  out  the  Devil's  story;  if 
there  are  good  and  evil  spirits  attending  us,  that  is  to 
say,  a  good  angel  and  a  devil,  then  it  is  no  unjust 
reproach  upon  anybody  to  say,  when  they  follow  the 
dictates  of  the  latter,  the  Devil  is  in  them  ;  or  they  are 
devils  ;  nay,  I  must  carry  it  farther  still,  namely,  that 
as  the  generality  and  greatest  number  of  peeple  do 


192  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

follow  and  obey  the  evil  spirit,  and  not  the  good,  and 
that  the  predominant  power  is  allowed  to  be  the  nom- 
inating power ;  you  must  then  allow,  that,  in  short,  the 
greater  part  of  mankind  has  the  Devil  in  them,  and  so 
I  come  to  my  text. 

To  this  purpose,  give  me  leave  to  borrow  a  few 
lines  of  a  friend,  on  this  very  part  of  the  Devil's 
management : 

To  places  and  persons  he  suits  his  disguises, 

And  dresses  up  all  his  banditti, 
Who,  as  pickpockets  flock  to  a  country  assizes, 

Crowd  up  to  the  court  and  the  city. 

They  're  at  every  elbow,  and  every  ear, 

And  ready  at  every  call,  sir  ; 
The  vigilant  scout  plants  his  agents  about, 

And  has  something  to  do  with  us  all,  sir. 

In  some  he  has  part,  and  in  some  he 's  the  whole, 

And  of  some,  (like  the  vicar  of  Baddow,) 
It  can  neither  be  said  they  have  body  or  soul  j 

But  only  are  devils  in  shadow. 

The  pretty  and  witty  are  devils  in  masque, 

The  beauties  are  mere  apparitions  ; 
The  homely  alone  by  their  faces  are  known, 

And  the  good  by  their  ugly  conditions. 

The  beaux  walk  about  like  the  shadows  of  men  ; 

And  wherever  he  leads  'em,  they  follow  : 
But  take  'em  and  shake  'em,  there 's  not  one  in  ten 

But 's  as  light  as  a  feather  and  hollow. 

Thus  all  his  aifairs  he  drives  on  in  disguise, 

And  he  tickles  mankind  with  a  feather ; 
Creeps  in  at  our  ears,  and  looks  out  at  our  eyes, 

And  jumbles  our  senses  together. 

He  raises  the  vapors,  and  prompts  the  desires, 
And  to  every  dark  deed  holds  the  candle  j 

The  passions  inflames,  and  the  appetite  fires, 
And  takes  everything  by  the  handle. 

Thus  he  walks  up  and  down  in  complete  masquerade, 

And  with  every  company  mixes, 
Sells  in  every  shop,  works  at  every  trade, 

And  everything  doubtful  perplexes. 

How  Satan  comes  by  this  governing  influence  in 
the  minds,  and  upon  the  actions,  of  men?  is  a  question 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  193 

I  am  not  yet  come  to,  nor  indeed  does  it  so  particu- 
larly belong  to  the  Devil's  history,  it  seems  rather  a 
polemic,  so  it  may  pass  at  school  among  the  meta- 
physics, and  puzzle  the  heads  of  our  masters. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Of  the  Devil' s  management  in  the  Pagan  hierarchy, 
by  omens,  entrails,  augurs,  oracles,  and  sucJi  like 
pageantry  of  hell ;  and  how  they  went  off  the  stage 
at  last  by  the  introduction  of  true  religion. 

[  HAVE  adjourned,  not  finished,  my  account  of  the 
Devil's  secret  management  by  possession,  and  shall 
reassume  it,  in  its  place  ;  but  I  must  take  leave  to 
mention  some  other  parts  of  his  retired  scheme,  by 
which  he  has  hitherto  managed  mankind  ;  and  the 
first  of  these  is  by  that  fraud  of  all  frauds,  called 
oracle. 

Here  his  trumpet  yielded  an  uncertain  sound  for 
some  ages,  and  like  what  he  was,  and  according  to 
what  he  practised  from  the  beginning,  he  delivered 
out  falsehood  and  delusion  by  retail.  The  priests  of 
Apollo  acted  this  farce  for  him,  to  a  great  nicety,  at 
Delphos ;  there  were  divers  others,  at  the  same  time, 
and  some,  which,  to  give  the  Devil  his  due,  he  had 
very  little  hand  in,  as  we  shall  see  presently. 

There  were  also  some  smaller,  some  greater,  some 
more,  some  less  famous  places  where  those  oracles 
were  seated,  and  audience  given  to  the  inquirers ;  in 
all  which  the  Devil,  or  somebody  for  him,  permissu 
superiorum,  for  either  vindictive  or  other  hidden  ends 
and  purposes,  was  allowed  to  make  at  least  a  preten- 
sion to  the  knowledge  of  things  to  come  ;  but,  as  public 
cheats  generally  do,  they  acted  in  masquerade,  and 
gave  such  uncertain  and  inconsistent  responses,  that 
they  were  obliged  to  use  the  utmost  art  to  reconcile 
events  to  the  prediction,  even  after  things  were  come 
to  pass. 

Here  the  Devil  was  a  lying  spirit,  in  a  particular 


194  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

and  extraordinary  manner,  in  the  mouths  of  all  the 
prophets ;  and  yet  he  had  the*cunning  to  express  him- 
self so,  that,  whatever  happened,  the  oracle  was  sup- 
posed to  have  meant  as  it  fell  out ;  and  so  all  their 
augurs,  omens  and  voices,  by  which  the  Devil  amused 
the  world,  not  at  that  time  only,  hut  since,  have  been 
likewise  interpreted. 

Julian,  the  apostate,  dealt  mightily  in  these  amuse- 
ments; but  the  Devil,  who  neither  wished  his  fall,  or 
presaged  it  to  him,  evidenced  that  he  knew  nothing 
of  Julian's  fate ;  for  that,  as  he  sent  almost  to  all  the 
oracles  of  the  East,  and  summoned  all  the  priests 
together,  to  inform  him  of  the  success  of  his  Persian 
expedition,  they  all,  like  Ahab's  prophets,  having  a 
lying  spirit  in  them,  encouraged  him.  and  promised 
him  success. 

Nay,  all  the  ill  omens  which  disturbed  him,  they 
presaged  good  from ;  for  example,  he  was  at  a  pro- 
digious expense,  when  he  was  at  Antioch,  to  buy  up 
white  beasts,  and  white  fowls,  for  sacrifices,  and  for 
predicting  from  the  entrails ;  from  whence  the  Anti- 
ochians,  in  contempt,  called  him  Victimarius ;  but 
whenever  the  entrails  foreboded  evil,  the  cunning 
Devil  made  the  priests  put  a  different  construction 
upon  them,  and  promise  him  good.  When  he  entered 
into  the  temple  of  the  Genii,  to  offer  sacrifice,  one  of 
the  priests  dropped  down  dead ;  this,  had  it  had  any 
signification  more  than  a  man  falling  dead  of  an 
apoplectic,  would  have  signified  something  fatal  to 
Julian,  who  made  himself  a  brother  sacrist  or  priest; 
whereas  the  priests  turned  it  presently  to  signify  the 
death  of  his  colleague,  the  Consul  Sallust,  which  hap- 
pened just  at  the  same  time,  though  eight  hundred 
miles  off.  So,  in  another  case,  Julian  thought  it 
ominous,  that  he,  who  was  Augustus,  should  be 
named  with  two  other  names  of  persons,  both  already 
dead.  The  case  was  thus ;  the  style  of  the  emperor 
was  Julianus  Felix  Augustus,  and  two  of  his  principal 
officers  were  Juliaixus  and  Felix ;  now  both  Julianus 
and  Felix  died  within  a  few  days  of  one  another, 
which  disturbed  him  much,  who  was  the  third  of  the 
three  names;  but  his  flattering  devil  told  him  it  all 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  195 

imported  good  to  him ;  namely,  that  though  Julianus 
and  Felix  would  die,  Augustus  should  be  immortal. 

Thus,  whatever  happened,  and  whatever  was  fore- 
told, and  how  much  soever  they  differed  from  one 
another,  the  lying  spirit  was  sure  to  reconcile  the  pre- 
diction and  the  event,  and  make  them  at  least  seem  to 
correspond  in  favor  of  the  person  inquiring. 

Now  we  are  told  oracles  are  ceased,  and  the  Devil 
is  farther  limited  for  the  good  of  mankind,  not  being 
allowed  to  vent  his  delusions  by  the  mouths  of  the 
priests  and  augurs,  as  formerly :  I  will  not  take  upon 
me  to  say,  how  far  they  are  really  ceased,  more  than 
they  were  before ;  I  think  it  is  much  more  reasonable 
to  believe  there  was  never  any  reality  in  them  at  all, 
or  that  any  oracle  ever  gave  out  any  answers  but 
what  were  the  invention  of  the  priests,  and  the  delu- 
sions of  the  Devil ;  I  have  a  great  many  ancient  authors 
on  my  side  in  this  opinion,  as  Ensebius,  Tertullian, 
Aristotle,  and  others,  who,  as  they  lived  so  near  the 
pagan  times,  and  when  even  some  of  those  rites  were 
yet  in  use,  they  had  much  more  reason  to  know,  and 
could  probably  pass  a  better  judgment  upon  them;  nay, 
Cicero  himself  ridicules  them  in  the  openest  manner  ; 
again,  other  authors  descend  to  particulars,  and  show 
how  the  cheat  was  managed  by  the  heathen  sacrists 
and  priests,  and  in  what  enthusiastic  manner  they 
spoke ;  namely,  by  going  into  the  hollow  images,  such 
as  the  brazen  bull,  and  the  image  of  Apollo,  and  how 
subtly  they  gave  out  dubious  and  ambiguous  answers; 
that  when  the  people  did  not  find  their  expectations 
answered  by  the  event,  they  might  be  imposed  upon 
by  the  priests,  arid  confidently  told  they  did  not  rightly 
understand  the  oracle's  meaning.  However,  I  cannot 
say  but  that  indeed  there  are  some  authors  of  good 
credit  too,  who  will  have  it,  that  there  was  a  real  pro- 
phetic spirit  in  the  voice  or  answers  given  by  the 
oracles,  and  that  oftentimes  they  were  miraculously 
exact  in  those  answers ;  and  they  give  that  of  the 
Delphic  oracle  answering  the  question  which  was 
given  about  Crcesus,  for  an  example  ;  namely,  What 
Croesus  was  doing  at  that  time  ?  to  wit,  that  he  was 
boiling  a  lamb  and  the  flesh  of  a  tortoise  together,  in  a 


196  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

brass  vessel,  or  boiler,  with  a  cover  of  the  same  metal ; 
that  is  to  say,  in  a  kettle  with  a  brass  cover. 

To  affirm,  therefore,  that  they  were  all  cheats,  a 
man  must  encounter  with  antiquity,  and  set  his  pri- 
vate judgment  up  against  an  established  opinion ;  but 
it  is  no  matter  for  that.  If  I  do  not  see  anything  in 
that  received  opinion  capable  of  evidence,  much  less 
of  demonstration,  I  must  be  allowed  still  to  think  as  I 
do  ;  others  may  believe  as  they  list ;  I  see  nothing  hard 
or  difficult  in  the  thing;  the  priests,  who  were  always 
historically  informed  of  the  circumstances  of  the  in- 
quirer, or  at  least  something  about  them,  might  easily 
find  some  ambiguous  speech  to  make,  and  put  some 
double  entendre  upon  them,  which,  upon  the  event, 
solved  the  credit  of  the  oracle,  were  it  one  way  or 
other ;  and  this  they  certainly  did,  or  we  have  room  to 
think  the  Devil  knows  less  of  things  now  than  he  did 
in  former  days. 

It  is  true,  that  by  these  delusions  the  priests  got  in- 
finite sums  of  money ;  and  this  makes  it  still  probable 
that  they  would  labor  hard,  and  use  the  utmost  of 
their  skill,  to  uphold  the  credit  of  their  oracles  ;  and  it 
is  a  full  discovery,  as  well  of  the  subtlety  of  the 
sacrists,  as  of  the  ignorance  and  stupidity  of  the  peo- 
ple, in  those  early  days  of  Satan's  witchcraft,  to  see 
what  merry  work  the  Devil  made  with  the  world, 
and  what  gross  things  he  put  upon  mankind.  Such 
was  the  story  of  the  Dodonian  oracle  in  Epirus ; 
namely,  That  two  pigeons  flew  out  of  Thebes,  (N.  B., 
it  was  the  Egyptian  Thebes.)  from  the  temple  of  Belus, 
erected  there  by  the  ancient  sacrists,  and  that  one  of 
these  fled  eastward  into  Libya,  and  the  deserts  of 
Africa,  and  the  other  into  Greece,  namely,  to  Dodona ; 
and  these  communicated  the  divine  mysteries  to  one 
another,  and  afterwards  gave  mystical  solutions  to  the 
devout  inquirers ;  first  the  Dodonian  pigeon,  perching 
upon  an  oak,  spoke  audibly  to  the  people  there,  that 
the  gods  commanded  them  to  build  an  oracle  or  tem- 
ple, to  Jupiter,  in  that  place;  which  was  accord- 
ingly done.  The  other  pigeon  did  the  like  on  the  hill 
in  Africa,  where  it  commanded  them  to  build  another 
to  Jupiter  Ammon,  or  Hammon. 

Wise  Cicero  contemned  all  this,  and,  as  authors  tell 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  197 

us,  ridiculed  the  answer,  which,  as  I  have  hinted 
above,  the  oracle  gave  to  Croesus,  proving  that  the 
oracle  itself  was  a  liar ;  that  it  could  not  come  from 
Apollo,  for  that  Apollo  never  spoke  Latin.  In  a  word, 
Cicero  rejected  them  all.  Arid  Demosthenes  also 
mentions  the  cheats  of  the  oracles ;  when  speaking  of 
the  oracle  of  Apollo,  he  said.  Pythia  philippized ; 
that  is,  that  when  the  priests  were  bribed  with  money, 
they  always  gave  their  answers  in  favor  of  Philip  of 
Macedon. 

Bat  that  which  is  most  strange  to  me  is,  that  in  this 
dispute  about  the  reality  of  oracles,  the  heathen,  who 
made  use  of  them,  are  the  people  who  expose  them, 
and  who  insist  most  positively  upon  their  being  cheats 
and  impostors,  and  in  particular  those  mentioned  above; 
while  the  Christians,  who  reject  them,  yet  believe  they 
did  really  foretell  things,  answer  questions,  &c.,  only 
with  this  difference,  that  the  heathen  authors,  who 
oppose  them,  insist  that  it  is  all  delusion  and  cheat,  and 
charge  it  upon  the  priests  ;  and  the  Christian  opposers 
insist  that  it  was  real,  but  that  the  Devil,  not  the  Gods, 
gave  the  answers  ;  and  that  he  was  permitted  to  do  it 
by  a  superior  power,  to  magnify  that  power  in  the  total 
silencing  them  at  last. 

But,  as  I  said  before,  I  am  with  the  heathen  here, 
against  the  Christian  writers ;  for  I  take  it  all  to  be  a 
cheat  and  delusion.  I  must  give  my  reason  for  it,  or 
I  do  nothing;  my  reason  is  this:  I  insist  Satan  is  as 
blind  in  matters  of  futurity  as  we  are,  and  cari*tell 
nothing  of  what  is  to  come.  These  oracles  often  pre- 
tending to  predict,  could  be  nothing  else  therefore  but 
a  cheat  formed  by  the  money-getting  priests  to  amuse 
the  world,  and  bring  grist  to  their  mill.  If  I  meet  with 
anything  in  my  way  to  open  my  eyes  to  a  better 
opinion  of  them,  I  shall  tell  it  you  as  I  go  on. 

On  the  other  hand,  whether  the  Devil  really  spake 
in  those  oracles,  or  set  the  cunning  priests  to  speak  for 
him  ;  whether  they  predicted,  or  only  made  the  people 
believe  they  predicted;  whether  they  gave  answers 
which  came  to  pass,  or  prevailed  upon  the  people  to 
believe  that  what  was  said  did  come  to  pass,  it  was 
much  at  one,  and  fully  answered  the  Devil's  end ; 
namely,  to  amuse  and  delude  the  world :  and  as  to  do. 
17* 


198  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

or  to  cause  to  be  done,  is  the  same  part  of  speech,  so 
whoever  did  it,  the  Devil's  interest  was  carried  on  by 
it,  his  government  preserved,  and  all  the  mischief  he 
could  desire  was  effectually  brought  to  pass,  so  that 
every  way  they  were  the  Devil's  oracles  ;  that  is  out 
of  the  question. 

Indeed  I  have  wondered  sometimes  why,  since  by 
this  sorcery  the  Devil  performed  such  wonders,  that 
is,  played  so  many  tricks  in  the  world,  and  had  such 
universal  success,  he  should  set  up  no  more  of  them ; 
but  there  might  be  a  great  many  reasons  given  for 
that,  too  long  to  tire  you  with  at  present.  It  is  true, 
there  were  not  many  of  them ;  and  yet,  considering 
what  a  great  deal  of  business  they  dispatched,  it  was 
enough ;  for  six  or  eight  oracles  were  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  amuse  all  the  world.  The  chief  oracles  we 
meet  with  in  history  are  among  the  Greeks  and  the 
Romans;  namely, 

That  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  in  Lydia,  as  above. 

The  Dodonian.  in  Epirus. 

Apollo  Delphicus,  in  •  the  country  of  Phocis,  in 
Greece. 

Apollo  Clarius,  in  Asia  Minor. 

Seraphis,  in  Alexandria,  in  Egypt. 

Trophonius,  in  Boeotia. 

Sibylla  Cumgea,  in  Italy. 

Diana,  at  Ephesus. 

Apollo  Daphneus,  at  Antioch. 

Besides  many  of  lesser  note,  in  several  other  planes,  as 
I  have  hinted  before. 

I  have  nothing  to  do  here  with  the  story  mentioned 
by  Plutarch,  of  a  voice  being  heard  at  sea,  from  some 
of  the  islands,  called  the  Echinades,  and  calling  upon 
Tharnuz,  an  Egyptian,  who  was  on  board  a  ship,  bid- 
ding him,  when  he  came  to  the  Palodes,  other  islands 
in  the  Ionian  sea,  tell  them  there,  that  the  great  god 
Pan  was  dead.  And  when  Thamuz  performed  it, 
great  groanings  and  howlings,  and  lamentations  were 
heard  from  the  shore. 

This  tale  tells  but  indifferently,  though  indeed  it 
looks  more  like  a  Christian  fable,  than  a  pagan ;  because 
it  seems  as  if  made  to  honor  the  Christian  worship,  and 
blast  all  the  pagan  idolatry  ;  and  for  that  reason  I  re- 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  1D9 

ject  it,  the  Christian  profession  needing  no  such  fabulous 
stuff  to  confirm  it. 

Nor  is  it  true,  in  fact,  that  the  oracles  did  cease  im- 
mediately upon  the  death  of  Christ ;  but,  as  I  noted 
before,  the  sum  of  the  matter  is  this;  the  Christian  re- 
ligion spreading  itself  universally,  as  well  as  miracu- 
lously, and  that  too  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching, 
into  all  parts  of  the  world,  the  oracles  ceased  ;  that  is 
to  say,  their  trade  ceased,  their  rogueries  were  daily 
detected,  the  deluded  people,  being  better  taught,  came 
no  more  after  them;  and  being  ashamed  as  well  as  dis- 
couraged, they  sneaked  out  of  the  world  as  well  as 
they  could ;  in  short,  the  customers  fell  off,  and  the 
priests,  who  were  the  shopkeepers,  having  no  business 
to  do,  shut  up  their  shops,  broke,  and  went  away;  the 
trade  and  the  tradesmen  were  hissed  off  the  stage  to- 
gether ;  so  that  the  Devil,  who,  it  must  be  confessed, 
got  infinitely  by  the  cheat,  became  bankrupt,  arid  was 
obliged  to  set  other  engines  to  work,  as  other  cheats 
and  deceivers  do,  who,  when  one  trick  grows  stale,  and 
will  serve  no  longer,  are  forced  to  try  another. 

Nor  was  the  Devil  to  seek  in  new  measures ;  for 
though  he  could  not  give  out  his  delusive  trash,  as  he  did 
before,  in  pomp  and  state,  with  the  solemnity  of  a  tem- 
ple, and  a  set  of  enthusiasts,  called  priests,  who  played 
a  thousand  tricks  to  amuse  the  world,  he  had  then 
recourse  to  his  old  Egyptian  method,  which  indeed 
was  more  ancient  than  that  of  oracles ;  and  that  was 
by  magic,  sorcery,  familiars,  witchcraft,  and  the  like. 

Of  this  we  find  the  people  of  the  south,  that  is,  of 
Arabia  and  Chaldea,  were  the  first,  from  whence  we 
are  told  the  wise  men,  that  is  to  say,  magicians, 
were  called  Chaldeans  and  soothsayers.  Hence,  also, 
we  find  Ahaziah,  the  king  of  Israel,  sent  to  Baalzebub, 
the  god  of  Ekron,  to  inquire  whether  he  should  live  or 
die?  This,  some  think,  was  a  kind  of  an  oracle, 
though  others  think  it  was  only  some  overgrown  ma- 
gician, who  counterfeited  himself  to  be  a  Devil,  and 
obtained  upon  that  idol-hunting  age  to  make  a  cun- 
ning man  of  him  ;  and  for  that  purpose  he  got  himself 
made  a  priest  of  Baalzebub,  the  god  of  Ekron,  and 
gave  out  answers  in  his  name.  Thus  those  merry  fel- 
lows in  Egypt,  Jarmes  and  Jambres,  are  said  to  mimic 


200  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Moses  and  Aaron,  when  they  worked  the  miraculous 
plagues  upon  the  Egyptians ;  and  we  have  some  in- 
stances in  scripture  to  support  this,  such  as  the  witch 
of  Endor,  the  king  Manasses,  who  dwelt  with  the 
Devil  openly,  and  had  a  familiar;  the  woman  men- 
tioned Acts  xvi.  who  had  a  spirit  of  divination,  and 
who  got  money  by  playing  the  oracle;  that  is,  answer- 
ing doubtful  questions,  &c.,  which  spirit,  or  devil,  tfye 
apostles  cast  out. 

Now  though  it  is  true,  that  the  old  women  in  the 
world  have  rilled  us  with  tales,  some  improbable,  others 
impossible;  some  weak,  some  ridiculous;  and  that  this 
puts  a  general  discredit  upon  all  the  graver  matrons 
who  entertain  us  with  stories  better  put  together;  yet 
it  is  certain,  and  I  must  be  allowed  to  affirm,  that  the 
Devil  does  not  disdain  to  take  into  his  service  many 
troops  of  good  old  women,  arid  old  women-men  too, 
whom  he  finds  it  is  for  his  service  to  keep  in  constant 
pay.  To  these  he  is  found  frequently  to  communicate 
his  mind,  and  oftentimes  we  find  them  such  proficients, 
that  they  know  much  more  than  the  Devil  can  teach 
them. 

I  confess  it  is  not  very  incongruous  with  the  Devil's 
temper,  or  with  the  nature  of  his  business,  to  shift 
hands;  possibly  he  found  that  he  had  tired  the  world 
with  oracular  cheats;  that  men  began  to  be  surfeited 
with  them,  and  grew  sick  of  the  frauds  which  were  so 
frequently  detected;  that  it  was  time  to  take  new 
measures,  and  contrive  some  new  trick  to  bite  the 
world,  that  he  might  not  be  exposed  to  contempt  ;  or, 
perhaps  he  saw  the  approach  of  new  light,  which  the 
Christian  doctrine,  bringing  with  it,  began  to  spread 
in  the  minds  of  men ;  that  it  would  outshine  the  dim 
burning  ignis  fatuus  with  which  he  had  so  long 
cheated  mankind ;  and  was  afraid  to  stand  it,  lest  he 
should  be  mobbed  off  the  stage  by  his  own  people, 
when  their  eyes  should  begin  to  open.  That,  upon  this 
foot,  he  might,  in  policy,  withdraw  from  those  old  re- 
treats, the  oracles,  and  restrain  those  responses  before 
they  lost  all  their  credit ;  for  we  find  the  people  seemed 
to  be  at  a  mighty  loss  for  some  time  for  want  of  them, 
so  that  it  made  them  run  up  and  down  to  conjurers, 
and  man-gossips,  to  brazen  heads,  speaking  calves,  and 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  201 

innumerable  simple  things,  so  gross  that  they  are 
scarce  fit  to  be  named,  to  satisfy  the  itch  of  having 
their  fortunes  told  them,  as  we  call  it. 

Now,  as  the  Devil  is  very  seldom  blind  to  his  own 
interest,  and  therefore  thought  fit  to*quit  his  old  way 
of  imposing  upon  the  world  by  his  oracles,  only 
because  he  found  the  world  began  to  be  too  wise  to  be 
imposed  upon  that  way ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  finding 
there  was  still  a  possibility  to  delude  the  world,  though 
by  other  instruments,  he  no  sooner  laid  down  his 
oracles  and  the  solemn  pageantry,  magnificent  appear- 
ances, and  other  frauds  of  his  priests  and  votaries,  in 
their  temples  and  shires,  but  he  set  up  a  new  trade  ;  and 
having,  as  I  have  said,  agents  and  instruments  suffi- 
cient for  any  business  that  he  could  have  to  employ 
them  in,  he  begins  in  corners,  as  the  learned  and 
merry  Dr.  Brown  says,  and  exercises  his  minor  trump- 
eries by  way  of  his  own  contriving,  lifting  a  great 
number  of  new  found  operators,  such  as  witches,  ma- 
gicians, diviners,  figure  casters,  astrologers,  and  such 
inferior  seducers. 

Now,  it  is  true,  as  that  doctor  says,  this  was  run- 
ning into  corners,  as  if  he  had  been  expelled  his  more 
triumphant  way  of  giving  audience  in  form,  which  for 
so  many  ages  had  been  allowed  him ;  yet  I  must  add, 
that  as  it  seemed  to  be  the  Devil's  own  doing,  from  a 
right  judgment  of  his  affairs,  which  had  taken  a  new 
turn  in  the  world,  upon  the  shining  of  new  lights  from 
the  Christian  doctrine,  so  it  must  be  acknowledged  the 
Devil  made  himself  amends  upon  mankind,  by  the 
various  methods  he  took,  and  the  multitude  of  instru- 
ments he  employed ;  and  perhaps  deluded  mankind  in 
a  more  fatal  and  sensible  manner  than  he  did  before, 
though  not  so  universally. 

He  had  indeed  before  more  pomp  and  figure  put 
upon  it,  and  he  cheated  mankind  then  in  a  way  of 
magnificence  and  splendor  ;  but  this  was  not  in  above 
eight  or  ten  principal  places,  and  not  fifty  places  in  all, 
public  or  private  :  whereas  now  fifty  thousand  of  his 
angels  and  instruments,  visible  and  invisible,  hardly 
may  be  said  to  suffice  for  one  town  or  city;  but,  in 
short,  as  his  invisible  agents  fill  the  air,  and  are  at 
hand  for  mischief,  on  every  emergency,  so  his  visible 


202  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

tools  swarm  in  every  village,  arid  you  have  scarce  an 
hamlet,  or  a  town,  but  his  emissaries  are  at  hand  for 
business ;  and,  which  is  still  worse,  in  all  places  he 
finds  business;  nay,  even  where  religion  is  planted, 
and  seems  to  flourish ;  yet  he  keeps  his"  ground,  and 
pushes  his  interest  according  to  what  has  been  said 
elsewhere,  upon  the  same  subject,  that  wherever 
religion  plants,  the  Devil  plants  close  by  it. 

Nor,  as  I  say,  does  he  fail  of  success;  delusion 
spreads  like  a  plague,  and  the  Devil  is  sure  of  votaries  ; 
like  a  true  mountebank,  he  can  always  bring  a  crowd 
about  his  stage,  and  that  some  time  faster  than  other 
people. 

What  I  observe  upon  this  subject  is  this ;  that  the 
world  is  at  a  loss  for  want  of  the  Devil.  If  it  was  not 
so,  what  is  the  reason  that,  upon  the  silencing  the 
oracles,  and  religion  telling  them  that  miracles  are 
ceased,  and  that  God  has  done  speaking  by  prophets, 
they  never  inquire,  whether  Heaven  has  established 
any  other  or  new  way  of  revelation,  but  away  they 
run  with  their  doubts  and  difficulties,  to  these  dream- 
ers of  dreams,  tellers  of  fortunes,  and  personal  oracles, 
to  be  resolved  ;  as  if,  when  they  acknowledge  the 
Devil  is  dumb,  these  could  speak  ;  and  as  if  the 
wicked  spirit  could  do  more  than  the  good,  the  diabol- 
ical more  than  the  divine  ;  or  that  Heaven,  having 
taken  away  the  Devil's  voice,  had  furnished  him  with 
an  equivalent,  by  allowing  scolds,  termagants,  and  old, 
weak  arid  superannuated  wretches,  to  speak  for  him ; 
for  these  are  the  people  we  go  to  now  in  our  doubts 
and  emergencies. 

While  this  blindness  continues  among  us,  it  is  non- 
sense to  say,  that  oracles  are  silenced,  or  the  Devil  is 
dumb ;  for  the  Devil  gives  audience  still,  by  his  dep- 
uties ;  only  as  Jeroboam  made  priests  of  the  meanest 
of  the  people,  so  he  is  grown  a  little  humble,  and 
makes  use  of  meaner  instruments  than  he  did  before ; 
for  whereas  the  priests  of  Apollo  and  of  Jupiter  were 
splendid  in  their  appearance,  of  grave  and  venerable 
aspect,  and  sometimes  of  no  mean  quality;  now  he 
makes  use  of  scoundrels  and  rabble,  beggars  and  vag- 
abonds, old  hags,  superannuated  miserable  hermits, 
gypsies  and  strollers,  the  pictures  of  envy  and  ill  luck. 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  203 

Either  the  Devil  is  grown  an  ill  master,  and  gives 
but  mean  wages,  that  he  can  get  no  hetter  servants  : 
or  else  common  sense  is  grown  very  low  priced  and 
contemptible ;  that  such  as  these  are  fit  tools  to  continue 
the  succession  of  fraud,  and  carry  on  the  Devil's  inter- 
est in  the  world  ;  for  were  not  the  passions  and  temper 
of  mankind  deeply  preengaged  in  favor  of  this  dark 

Erince,  we  could  never  suffer  ourselves  to  accept  of  his 
ivors,  by  the  hands  of  such  contemptible  agents  as 
these.  How  do  we  receive  his  oracles  from  an  old 
witch  of  particular  eminence,  and  whom  we  believe  to 
be  more  than  ordinary  inspired  from  hell  ?  I  say,  we 
receive  the  oracle  with  reverence ;  that  is  to  say,  with 
a  kind  of  horror,  with  regard  to  the  black  prince  it 
comes  from ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  turn  our  faces 
away  from  the  wretch  that  mumbles  out  the  answers, 
lest  she  should  cast  an  evil  eye,  as  we  call  it,  upon  us, 
and  put  a  devil  into  us,  when  she  plays  the  Devil 
before  us.  How  do  we  listen  to  the  cant  of  those 
worst  of  vagabonds,  the  gypsies,  when,  at  the  same 
time,  we  watch  our  hedges  and  hen-roosts,  for  fear  of 
their  thieving? 

Either  the  Devil  uses  us  more  like  fools  than  he  did 
our  ancestors,  or  we  really  are  worse  fools  than  those 
ages  produced  ;  for  they  were  never  deluded  by  such 
low-priced  devils  as  we  are;  by  such  despicable  Bride- 
well devils,  that  are  fitter  for  a  whipping-post  than  an 
altar,  and,  instead  of  being  received  as  the  voice  of  an 
oracle,  should  be  sent  to  the  house  of  correction,  for 
pickpockets. 

Nor  is  this  accidental,  and  here  and  there  one  of 
these  wretches  to  be  seen ;  but,  in  short,  if  it  has  been 
in  other  nations  as  it  is  with  us,  I  do  not  see  that  the 
Devil  was  able  to  get  any  better  people  into  his  pay, 
or  at  least  very  rarely.  Where  have  we  seen  anything 
above  a  tinker  turn  wizard  ?  And  where  have  we  had 
a  witch  of  quality  among  us  ? 

Magicians,  soothsayers,  devil-raisers,  and  such  peo- 
ple, we  have  heard  much  of.  but  seldom  above  the 
degree  of  the  meanest  of  the  mean  people,  the  lowest 
of  the  lowest  rank.  Indeed  the  woi'davise  men,  which 
the  Devil  would  fain  have  had  his  agents  honored 
with,  was  used  a  while  in  Egypt,  and  in  Persia,  among 


204  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

the  Chaldeans;  but  it  continued  but  a  little  while,  and 
never  reached  so  far  northward  as  our  country ;  nor, 
however  the  Devil  has  managed  it,  have  many  of  our 
great  men,  who  have  been  most  acquainted  with  him, 
ever  been  able  to  acquire  the  title  of  wise  men. 

But  I  may  be  told  this  relates  to  wise  men  in 
another  constitution,  or  wise  men  as  they  are  opposed 
to  fools ;  whereas  we  are  talking  of  them  now  under 
another  class,  namely,  as  wise  men,  or  magicians, 
soothsayers,  &c.,  such  as  were  in  former  times  called 
by  that  name. 

But  to  this  I  answer,  that,  take  them  in  which  sense 
you  please,  it  may  be  the  same ;  for  if  I  were  to  ask 
the  Devil  the  character  of  the  best  statesmen  he  had 
employed  among  us  for  many  years  past,  I  am  apt  to 
think  that  though  oracles  are  ceased,  he  would  hon- 
estly, according  to  the  old  ambiguous  way,  when  I 
asked  if  they  were  Christians,  answer  they  were  (his) 
Privy  Counsellors. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Of  the  extraordinary  appearance  of  the  Devil,  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  cloven  foot. 

SOME  people  would  fain  have  us  treat  this  tale  of  the 
Devil's  appearing  with  a  cloven  foot  with  more  solem- 
nity than  I  believe  the  Devil  himself  does ;  for  Satan, 
who  knows  how  much  of  a  cheat  it  is,  must  certainly 
ridicule  it,  in  his  own  thoughts,  to  the  last  degree ;  but 
as  he  is  glad  of  any  way  to  hoodwink  the  understand- 
ings, and  bubble  the  weak  part  of  the  world ;  so,  if  he 
sees  men  willing  to  take  every  scarecrow  for  a  devil, 
it  is  not  his  business  to  undeceive  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  finds  it  in  his  interest  to  foster  the  cheat,  and 
serve  himself  of  the  consequence.  Nor  could  I  doubt 
but  the  Devil,  if  any  mirth  be  allowed  him,  often 
laughs  at  the  many  frightful  shapes  and  figures  we 
dress  him  up  in,  find  especially  to  see  how  willing  we 
are  first  to  paint  him  as  black,  and  make  him  appear 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  205 

as  ugly  as  we  can,  and  then  stare  and  start  at  the 
spectrum  of  our  own  making. 

The  truth  is,  that  among  all  the  horribles  that  we 
dress  up  Satan  in,  I  cannot  but  think  we  show  the 
least  of  invention  in  this  of  a  goat,  or  a  thing  with  a 
goat's  foot,  of  all  the  rest;  for  though  a  goat  is  a  crea- 
ture made  use  of  by  our  Saviour,  in  the  allegory  of  the 
day  of  judgment,  and  is  said  there  to  represent  the 
wicked  rejected  party,  yet  it  seems  to  be  only  on 
account  of  their  similitude  to  the  sheep,  and  so  to  rep- 
resent the  just  fate  of  hypocrisy  and  hypocrites ;  and, 
in  particular,  to  form  the  necessary  antithesis  in  the 
story  ;  for  else,  our  whimsical  fancies  excepted,  a 
sheep,  or  a  lamb,  has  a  cloven  foot,  as  well  as  a  goat ; 
nay,  if  scripture  be  of  any  value  in  the  case,  it  is  to 
the  Devil's  advantage;  for  the  dividing  the  hoof  was 
the  distinguishing  character  or  mark  of  a  clean  beast; 
and  how  the  Devil  can  be  brought  into  that  number, 
is  pretty  hard  to  say. 

One  would  have  thought,  if  we  had  intended  to 
have  given  a  just  figure  of  the  Devil,  it  would  have 
been  more  apposite  to  have  ranked  him  among  the 
cat  kind,  and  given  him  a  foot,  (if  he  is  to  be  known 
by  his  foot,)  like  a  lion,  or  like  a  red  dragon,  being  the 
same  creatures  which  he  is  represented  by  in  the  text ; 
and  so  his  claws  would  have  had  some  terror  in  them, 
as  well  as  his  teeth. 

But  neither  is  the  goat  a  true  representative  of  the 
Devil  at  all,  for  we  do  not  rank  the  goats  among  the 
subtle  or  cunning  part  of  the  brutes;  he  is  counted  a 
fierce  creature  indeed  of  his  kind,  though  nothing  like 
those  other  above  mentioned  ;  and  he  is  emblematically 
used  to  represent  a  lustful  temper,  but  even  that  part 
does  not  fully  serve  to  describe  the  Devil,  whose  oper- 
ation lies  principally  another  way. 

Besides,  it  is  not  the  goat  himself  that  is  made  use 
of,  it  is  the  cloven  hoof  only,  and  that  so  particularly, 
that  the  cloven  hoof  of  a  ram,  or  a  swine,  or  any 
other  creature,  may  serve  as  well  as  that  of  a  goat  ; 
only  that  history  gives  us  some  cause  to  call  it  the 
goat's  foot. 

In  the  next  place,  it  is  understood  by  us  not  as  a 
bare  token  to  know  Satan  by,  but  as  if  it  were  a  brand 
18 


206  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

upon  him,  and  that,  like  the  mark  God  put  upon  Cain, 
it  was  given  him  for  a  punishment,  so  that  he  cannot 
get  leave  to  appear  without  it,  nay,  cannot  conceal  it 
whatever  other  dress  or  disguise  he  may  put  on;  and 
as  if  it  was  to  make  him  as  ridiculous  as  possible,  they 
will  have  it  be,  that  whenever  Satan  has  occasion  to 
dress  himself  in  any  human  shape,  be  it  of  what  de- 
gree soever,  from  the  king  to  the  beggar,  be  it  of  a  fine 
lady  or  of  an  old  woman  (the  latter,  it  seems,  he  often- 
est  assumes,)  yet  still  he  not  only  must  have  this  clo- 
ven foot  about  him,  but  he  is  obliged  to  show  it  too; 
nay,  they  will  not  allow  him  any  dress,  but  the  cloven 
foot;  they  will  not  so  much  as  allow  him  an  artificial 
shoe,  or  a  jack  boot,  as  we  often  see  contrived  to  con- 
ceal a  club  foot,  or  a  wooden  leg :  but  that  the  Devil 
may  be  known  wherever  he  goes,  he  is  bound  to  show 
his  foot.  They  might  as  well  oblige  him  to  set  a  bill 
upon  his  cap,  as  folks  do  upon  a  house  to  be  let,  and 
have  it  written  in  capital  letters,  /  am  the  Demi. 

It  must  be  confessed  this  is  very  particular,  and 
would  be  very  hard  upon  the  Devil,  if  it  had  not  an- 
other article  in  it,  which  is  some  advantage  to  him,  and 
that  is,  that  the  fact  is  not  true;  but  the  belief  of  this 
is  so  universal,  that  all  the  world  runs  away  with  it : 
by  which  mistake  the  good  people  miss  the  Devil  many 
times  where  they  look  for  him.  and  meet  him  as  often 
where  they  did  not  expect  him,  and  when  for  want  of 
this  cloven  foot  they  did  not  know  him. 

Upon  this  very  account  I  have  sometimes  thought, 
not  that  this  has  been  put  upon  him  by  mere  fancy, 
and  the  cheat  of  an  heavy  imagination,  propagated  by 
fable,  and  chimney-corner-divinity;  but  that  it  has 
been  a  contrivance  of  his  own ;  and  that,  in  short,  the 
Devil  raised  this  scandal  upon  himself,  that  he  might 
keep  his  disguise  the  better,  and  might  go  a  visiting 
among  his  friends  without  being  known ;  for  were  it 
really  so,  that  he  could  go  nowhere  without  this 
particular  brand  of  infamy,  he  could  not  come  into 
company ;  the  reason  is  plain,  he  would  be  always 
discovered,  exposed,  and  forced  to  leave  the  good  com- 
pany, or,  which  would  be  as  bad,  the  company  would 
all  cry  out  the  Devil,  and  run  out  of  the  room  as  they 
were  frighted;  nor  could  all  the  help  of  invention  do 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  207 

him  any  service,  no  dress  he  could  put  on  would  cover 
him  ;  not  all  his  friends  could  furnish  him  with  an 
habit  that  would  disguise  or  conceal  him,  this  unhappy 
foot  would  spoil  it  all.  Now  this  would  be  so  great  a 
loss  to  him,  that  I  question  whether  he  could  carry  on 
any  of  his  most  important  affairs  in  the  world  without 
it;  for  though  he  has  access  to  mankind  in  his  com- 
plete disguise,  I  mean  that  of  his  invisibility,  yet  the 
learned  very  much  agree  in  this,  that  his  corporal  pres- 
ence in  the  world  is  absolutely  necessary,  upon  many 
occasions,  to  support  his  interest,  and  keep  up  his  cor- 
respondences, and  particularly  to  encourage  his  friends, 
when  numbers  are  requisite  to  carry  on  his  affairs ; 
but  this  part  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  again, 
when  I  come  to  consider  him  as  a  gentleman  of  busi- 
ness in  his  locality,  and  under  the  head  of  visible  ap- 
parition ;  but  I  return  to  the  foot. 

As  I  have  thus  suggested,  that  the  Devil  himself 
has  politically  spread  about  this  notion  concerning  his 
appearing  with  a  cloven  foot,  so  I  doubt  not  that  he 
has  thought  it  for  his  purpose  to  paint  this  cloven  foot 
so  lively  in  the  imaginations  of  many  of  our  people, 
and  especially  of  those  clear-sighted  folks,  who  see  the 
Devil  when  he  is  not  to  be  seen,  that  they  would  make 
no  scruple  to  say,  nay,  and  to  make  affidavit  too,  even 
before  Satan  himself,  whenever  he  sat  upon  the  bench, 
that  they  had  seen  his  worship's  foot  at  such  and  such 
a  time.  This  I  advance  the  rather,  because  it  is  very 
much  for  his  interest  to  do  this ;  for  if  we  had  not  many 
witnesses,  viva  voce,  to  testify  it,  we  should  have  had 
some  obstinate  fellows  always  among  us,  who  would 
have  denied  the  fact,  or  at  least  have  spoken  doubtfully 
of  it ;  and  so  have  raised  disputes  and  objections 
against  it,  as  impossible,  or  at  least  as  improbable ; 
buzzing  one  ridiculous  notion  or  other  into  our  ears,  as 
if  the  Devil  was  not  so  black  as  he  was  painted;  that 
he  had  no  more  a  cloven  foot  than  a  pope,  whose  apos- 
tolical toes  have  so  often  been  reverentially  kissed  by 
kings  and  emperors ;  but  now,  alas !  this  part  is  out 
of  the  question.  Not  the  man  in  the  moon,  not  the 
groaning-board,  not  the  speaking  of  Friar  Bacon's 
brazen  head,  not  the  inspiration  of  Mother  Shipton,  or 
the  miracles  of  Dr.  Faustus,  things  as  certain  as  death 


208  THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF   THE   DEVIL. 

and  taxes,  can  be  more  firmly  believed.  The  Devil 
not  have  a  cloven  foot !  I  doubt  not  but  I  could,  in  a 
short  time,  bring  you  a  thousand  old  women  together, 
that  would  as  soon  believe  there  was  no  Devil  at  all ; 
nay,  they  will  'tell  you,  he  could  not  be  a  Devil  with- 
out it,  any  more  than  he  could  come  into  the  room, 
and  the  candles  not  burn  blue ;  or  go  out,  and  not  leave 
a  smell  of  brimstone  behind  him. 

Since  then  the  certainty  of  the  thing  is  so  well 
established,  and  there  are  so  many  good  and  substan- 
tial witnesses  ready  to  testify,  that  he  has  a  cloven 
foot,  and  that  they  have  seen  it  too :  nay,  and  that  we 
have  antiquity  on  our  side,  for  we  have  this  truth 
confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  many  ages :  why  should 
we  doubt  it  any  longer  ?  We  can  prove,  that  many 
of  our  ancestors  have  been  of  this  opinion,  and  divers 
learned  authors  have  left  it  upon  record,  as  particular- 
ly that  learned  familiarist  Mother  Hazel,  whose  writ- 
ings are  to  be  found  in  MSS.  in  the  famous  library  at 
Pye-Corner ;  also  the  admired  Joan  of  Amesbury ;  the 
history 'of  the  Lancashire  Witches:  and  the  reverend 
Exorcist  of  the  Devils  of  London,  whose  history  is 
extant  among  us  to  this  day.  All  these  and  many 
more  may  be  quoted,  and  their  writings  referred  to, 
for  the  confirmation  of  the  antiquity  of  this  truth ;  but 
there  seems  to  be  no  occasion  for  farther  evidence,  it  is 
enough,  Satan  himself,  if  he  did  not  raise  the  report, 
yet  tacitly  owns  the  fact;  at  least  he  appears  willing 
to  have  it  believed,  and  be  received  as  a  general  truth, 
for  the  reasons  above. 

But  besides  all  this,  and  as  much  a  jest  as  some  un- 
believing people  would  have  this  story  pass  for,  who 
knows  but  that  if  Satan  is  empowered  to  assume  any 
shape  or  body,  and  to  appear  to  us  visibly,  as  if  really 
so  shaped;  I  say,  who  knows  but  he  may,  by  the  same 
authority,  be  allowed  to  assume  the  addition  of  the 
cloven  foot,  or  two  or  four  cloven  feet,  if  he  pleased  ? 
and  why  not  a  cloven  foot  as  well  as  any  other  foot, 
if  he  thinks  fit?  For  if  the  Devil  can  assume  a  shape, 
and  can  appear  to  mankind  in  a  visible  form,  it  may, 
I  doubt  not,  with  as  good  authority,  be  advanced,  that 
he  is  left  at  liberty  to  assume  what  shape  he  pleases, 
and  to  choose  what  case  of  flesh  and  blood  he  will 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  209 

please  to  wear,  whether  real  or  imaginary;  and  if  this 
liberty  be  allowed  him,  it  is  an  admirable  disguise  for 
him  to  come  generally  with  his  cloven  foot,  that  when 
he  finds  it  for  his  purpose,  on  special  occasions,  to 
come  without  it,  as  I  said  above,  he  may  not  be  sus- 
pected. But  take  this  with  you,  as  you  go,  that  all 
this  is  upon  a  supposition,  that  the  Devil  can  assume  a 
visible  shape,  and  make  a  real  appearance,  which, 
however,  I  do  not  yet  think  fit  to  grant,  or  deny. 

Certain  it  is,  the  first  people  who  bestowed  a  cloven 
foot  upon  the  Devil,  were  not  so  despicable  as  you  may 
imagine,  but  were  real  favorites  of  heaven ;  for  did  not 
Aaron  set  up  the  Devil  of  a  calf  in  the  congregation, 
and  set  the  people  a  dancing  about  it  for  a  god  1  Upon 
which  occasion,  expositors  tell  us,  that  particular  com- 
mand was  given,  Levit.  xvii.  7, — "  They  shall  no  more 
offer  their  sacrifices  unto  Devils,  after  whom  they  have 
gone  a  whoring."  Likewise  King  Jeroboam  set  up  the 
two  calves,  one  at  Dan,  and  the  other  at  Bethel ;  and 
we  find  them  charged  afterwards  with  setting  up  the 
worship  of  Devils,  instead  of  the  worship  of  God. 

After  this  we  find  some  nations  actually  sacrificed  to 
the  Devil,  in  the  form  of  a  ram,  and  others  of  a  goat ; 
from  which,  and  that  above  of  the  calves  at  Horeb,  I 
doubt  not  the  story  of  the  cloven  foot  first  derived ; 
and  it  is  plain,  that  the  worship  of  that  calf  at  Horeb 
is  meant  in  the  Scripture  quoted  above,  Levit.  xvii.  7, 
"  Thou  shalt  no  more  offer  sacrifices  unto  Devils. " 
The  original  is  Seghnirim;  that  is.  rough  and  hairy 
goats,  or  calves.  And  some  think  also,  in  this  shape, 
the  Devil  most  ordinarily  appeared  to  the  Egyptians 
and  Arabians,  from  whence  it  was  derived. 

Also,  in  the  old  writings  of  the  Egyptians,  I  mean 
their  hieroglyphic  writing,  before  the  use  of  letters  was 
known,  we  are  told,  this  was  the  mark  that  he  was 
known  by ;  and  the  figure  of  a  goat  was  the  hierogly- 
phic of  the  Devil.  Some  will  affirm,  that  the  Devil 
was  particularly  pleased  to  be  so  represented.  How 
they  came  by  their  information,  and  whether  they  had 
it  from  his  own  mouth,  or  not,  authors  have  not  yet 
determined. 

But  be  this  as  it  will,  I  do  not  see  that  Satan  could 
have  been  at  a  loss  for  some  extraordinary  figure  to 
18* 


210  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

have  bantered  mankind  with  though  this  had  not  been 
thought  of;  but  thinking  of  the  cloven  foot  first,  and 
the  matter  being  indifferent,  this  took  place,  and  easily 
rooted  itself  in  the  bewildered  fancy  of  the  people ;  and 
now  it  is  riveted  too  fast  for  the  Devil  himself  to  re- 
move it,  if  he  was  disposed  to  try ;  but,  as  I  said  above, 
it  is  none  of  his  business  to  solve  doubts,  or  remove 
difficulties  out  of  our  heads,  but  to  perplex  us  with 
more,  as  much  as  he  can. 

Some  people  carry  this  matter  a  great  deal  higher 
still,  and  will  have  the  cloven  foot  be  like  the  great 
stone  which  the  Brazilian  conjurers  used  to  solve  all 
difficult  questions  upon,  after  having  used  a  great  many 
monstrous  and  barbarous  gestures  and  distortions  of 
their  bodies,  and  cut  certain  marks,  or  magical  figures 
upon  the  stone.  So,  I  say,  they  will  have  this  cloven 
foot  be  a  kind  of  a  conjuring  stone ;  arid  tell  us,  that, 
in  former  times,  when  Satan  drove  a  greater  trade  with 
mankind,  in  public,  than  he  has  done  of  late,  he  gave 
this  cloven  foot  as  a  token  to  his  particular  favorites, 
to  work  wonders  with,  and  to  conjure  by ;  and  that 
witches,  fairies,  hobgoblins,  and  such  things,  of  which 
the  ancients  had  several  kinds,  at  least  in  their  imagi- 
nation, had  all  a  goat's  leg,  with  a  cloven  foot,  to  put 
on  upon  extraordinary  occasions.  It  seems  this  method 
is  of  late  grown  out  of  practice;  and  so,  like  the  melt- 
ing of  marble,  and  the  painting  of  glass,  it  is  laid  aside, 
among  the  various  useful  arts  which,  history  tells  us, 
are  lost  to  the  world.  What  may  be  practised  in  the 
fairy  world,  if  such  a  place  there  be,  we  can  give  no 
particular  account  at  present. 

But  neither  is  this  all  ;  for  other  would-be- wise 
people  take  upon  them  to  make  farther  and  more  con- 
siderable improvements  upon  this  doctrine  of  the  cloven 
foot,  and  treat  it  as  a  most  significant  instrument  of 
Satan's  private  operation ;  and  that  as  Joseph  is  said 
to  divine,  that  is  to  say,  to  conjure  by  his  golden  cup, 
which  was  put  into  Benjamin's  sack ;  so  the  Devil  has 
managed  several  of  his  secret  operations,  and  posses- 
sions, and  other  hellish  mechanisms,  upon  the  spirits 
as  well  as  bodies  of  men,  by  the  medium  or  instrumen- 
tality of  the  cloven  foot;  accordingly  it  had  a  kind  of 
an  hellish  inspiration  in  it,  and  a  separate  and  magical 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  211 

power,  by  which  he  wrought  his  infernal  miracles. 
That  the  cloven  foot  had  a  superior  signification,  and 
was  not  only  emblematic  and  significative  of  the  con- 
duct of  men,  but  really  guided  their  conduct  in  the 
most  important  affairs  of  life ;  and  that  the  agents  the 
Devil  employed  to  influence  mankind,  and  to  delude 
them,  and  draw  them  into  all  the  snares  and  traps  that 
he  lays  continually  for  their  destruction,  were  equip- 
ped with  this  foot,  in  aid  of  their  other  powers  for 
mischief. 

Here  they  read  us  learned  lectures  upon  the  sove- 
reign operations  which  the  Devil  is  at  present  master 
of,  in  the  government  of  human  affairs ;  and  how  the 
cloven  foot  is  an  emblem  of  the  true  double  entendre, 
or  divided  aspect,  which  the  great  men  of  the  world 
generally  act  with,  and  by  which  all  their  affairs  are 
directed ;  from  whence  it  comes  to  pass,  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  single-hearted  integrity,  or  an  up- 
right meaning  to  be  found  in  the  world.  That  man- 
kind, worse  than  the  ravenous  brutes,  preys  upon  his 
own  kind  and  devours  them  by  all  the  laudable 
methods  of  flattery,  whine,  cheat,  and  treachery; 
crocodile-like,  weeping  over  those  it  will  devour,  de- 
stroying those  it  smiles  upon ;  and,  in  a  word,  devours 
its  own  kind,  which  the  very  beasts  refuse,  and  that 
by  all  the  ways  of  fraud  and  allurement  that  hell  can 
invent;  holding  out  a  cloven  divided  hoof,  or  hand, 
pretending  to  save,  when  the  very  pretence  is  made  use 
of  to  ensnare  and  destroy. 

Thus  the  divided  hoof  is  the  representative  of  a  di- 
vided double  tongue,  and  heart,  an  emblem  of  the  most 
exquisite  hypocrisy,  the  most  fawning  and  fatally  de- 
ceiving flattery.  And  here  they  give  us  very  diverting 
histories,  though  tragical  in  themselves,  of  the  manner 
which  some  of  the  Devil's  inspired  agents  have  man- 
aged themselves  under  the  especial  influence  of  the 
cloven  foot.  How  they  have  made  war  under  the  pre- 
tence of  peace;  murdered  garrisons  under  the  most 
sacred  capitulations;  massacred  innocent  multitudes 
after  surrenders  to  mercy. 

Again,  they  tell  us  the  cloven  foot  has  been  made 
use  of  in  all  treasons,  plots,  assassinations,  and  secret 
as  well  as  open  murders  and  rebellions.  Thus  Joab, 


212  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

under  the  treason  of  an  embrace,  showed  IIOAV  dex- 
terously he  could  manage  the  cloven  foot,  and  struck 
Abner  under  the  fifth  rib.  Thus  David  played  the 
cloven  foot  upon  poor  Uriah,  when  he  had  a  mind  to 
injure  him.  Thus  Brutus  played  it  upon  Ceesar;  and, 
to  come  nearer  home,  we  have  had  a  great  many 
retrograde  motions  in  this  country,  by  this  magical 
implement,  the  foot ;  such  as  that  of  the  Earl  of  Essex's 
fate,  beheading  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  divers  others 
in  Q,ueen  Elizabeth's  time.  That  of  the  Earl  of 
Shrewsbury,  and  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  Gondamor, 
and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and  many  others,  in  King 
James  the  First's  time ;  in  all  which,  if  the  cloven  foot 
had  not  been  dexterously  managed,  those  murders 
had  not  been  so  dexterously  managed ;  or  the  murder- 
ers have  so  well  been  screened  from  justice :  for 
which,  and  the  imprecated  justice  of  Heaven  unap- 
peased,  some  have  thought  the  innocent  branches  of  the 
royal  house  of  Stuart  did  not  fare  the  better,  in  the 
ages  which  followed. 

It  must  be  confessed,  the  cloven  foot  was  in  its 
full  exercise  in  the  next  reign ;  and  the  generation 
that  rose  up  immediately  after  them,  arrived  to  the 
most  exquisite  skill  for  management  of  it.  Here  they 
fasted  and  prayed,  there  they  plundered  and  murdered; 
here  they  raised  Avar  for  the  king,  and  there  they 
fought  against  him,  cutting  throats  for  God's  sake,  and 
deposing  both  king  and  kingly  government,  according 
to  law. 

Nor  was  the  cloven  foot  unemployed  on  all  sides ; 
for  it  is  the  main  excellency  of  this  instrument  of  hell, 
that  it  acts  on  every  side,  it  is  its  denominating  qual- 
ity, and  is,  for  that  reason,  called  a  cloven  or  divided 
hoof. 

This  mutilated  apparition  has  been  so  public  in 
other  countries  too,  that  it  seems  to  convince  us  the 
Devil  is  not  confined  to  England  only,  but  that  as  his 
empire  extended  to  all  the  sublunary  world,  so  he  gives 
them  all  room  to  see  he  is  qualified  to  manage  them 
his  own  way. 

What  abundant  use  did  that  prince  of  dissemblers, 
Charles  V.  make  of  this  foot?  It  was  by  the  help  of 
this  apparition  of  the  foot  that  he  baited  his  hook 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  213 

with  the  city  of  Milan,  and  tickled  Francis  I.  of 
France  so  well  with  it,  that  when  he  passed  through 
France,  and  was  in  that  king's  power,  he  let  him  go, 
and  never  got  the  bait  off  of  the  hook  neither ;  it 
seems  the  foot  was  not  on  King  Francis'  side  at  that 
time. 

How  cruelly  did  Philip  II.  of  Spain  manage  this 
foot,  in  the  murder  of  the  nobility  of  the  Spanish 
Netherlands,  the  assassination  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
and,  at  last,  in  that  of  his  own  son,  Don  Carlos,  infant 
of  Spain?  And  yet,  such  was  the  Devil's  craft,  and 
so  nicely  did  he  bestir  his  cloven  hoof,  that  this 
monarch  died  consolated  (though  impenitent)  in  the 
arms  of  the  church,  and  with  the  benediction  of  the 
clergy  too,  those  second-best  managers  of  the  said  hoof 
in  the  world. 

I  must  acknowledge,  I  agree  with  this  opinion  thus 
far ;  namely,  that  the  Devil,  acting  by  this  cloven  foot 
as  a  machine,  has  done  great  things  in  the  world  for 
the  propagating  his  dark  empire  among  us ;  and  his- 
tory is  full  of  examples,  besides  the  little  low-priced 
things  done  among  us ;  for  we  are  come  to  such  a  kind 
of  degeneracy  in  folly,  that  we  have  even  dishonored 
the  Devil,  and  put  this  glorious  engine,  the  cloven  foot, 
to  such  mean  uses,  that  the  Devil  himself  seems  to  be 
ashamed  of  us. 

But  to  return  a  little  to  foreign  history.  Besides  what 
has  been  mentioned  above,  we  find  flaming  examples 
of  most  glorious  mischief  done  by  this  weapon,  when 
put  into  the  hands  of  kings  and  men  of  fame,  in  the 
world.  How  many  games  have  the  kings  of  France 
played  with  this  cloven  foot,  and  that  within  a  few 
years  of  one  another?  First,  Charles  IX.  played  the 
cloven  foot  upon  Gasper  Coligni,  admiral  of  France, 
when  he  caressed  him,  complimented  him,  invited  him 
to  Paris,  to  the  wedding  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  called 
him  father,  kissed  him,  and  when  he  was  wounded, 
sent  his  own  surgeons  to  take  care  of  him ;  and  yet, 
three  days  after,  ordered  him  to  be  assassinated,  and 
murdered,  used  with  a  thousand  indignities,  and  at 
last  thrown  out  of  the  window  into  the  street,  to  be  in- 
sulted by  the  rabble. 

Did  not  Henry  III.  in  the  same  country,  play  the 


214  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

cloven  foot  upon  the  Duke  of  Guise,  when  he  called 
him  to  his  council,  and  caused  him  to  be  murdered  as 
he  went  in  at  the  door?  The  Guises  again  played  the 
same  game  back  upon  the  king,  when  they  sent  out  a 
Jacobin  friar  to  assassinate  him  in  his  tent,  as  he  lay 
at  the  siege  of  Paris. 

In  a  word,  this  opera  of  the  cloven  foot  has  been 
acted  all  over  the  Christian  world,  ever  since  Judas 
betrayed  the  Son  of  God  with  a  kiss ;  nay,  our  Saviour 
says  expressly  of  him,  "  One  of  you  is  a  devil ;"  and 
the  sacred  text  says  in  another  place,  "  The  Devil  en- 
tered into  Judas." 

It  remains  to  tell  you,  that  this  merry  story  of  the 
cloven  foot  is  very  essential  to  the  history  which  I  am 
now  writing,  as  it  has  been  all  along  the  great  emblem 
of  the  Devil's  government  in  the  world,  and  by  which 
all  his  most  considerable  engagements  have  been  an- 
swered, and  executed;  for  as  he  is  said  not  to  be  able  to 
conceal  this  foot,  but  that  he  carries  it  always  with  him, 
it  imports  most  plainly,  that  the  Devil  would  be  no 
devil,  if  he  was  not  a  dissembler,  a  deceiver,  and 
carried  a  double  entendre  in  all  he  does  or  says  ;  that 
he  cannot  but  say  one  thing  and  mean  another;  pro- 
mise one  thing,  and  do  another ;  engage,  and  not  per- 
form; declare,  and  not  intend;  and  act  like  a  true 
devil  as  he  is,  with  a  countenance  that  is  no  index  of 
his  heart. 

I  might  indeed  go  back  to  originals,  and  derive  this 
cloven  foot  from  Satan's  primitive  state,  as  a  cheru- 
birn,  or  a  celestial  being;  which  cherubims,  as  Moses 
is  said  to  have  seen  them  about  the  throne  of  God,  in 
mount  Sinai ;  and  as  the  same  Moses,  from  the  original, 
represented  them  afterwards  covering  the  ark  ;  had  the 
head  and  face  of  a  man,  wings  of  an  eagle,  body  of  a 
lion,  and  legs  and  feet  of  a  calf.  But  this  is  not  so 
much  to  our  present  purpose,  for  as  we  are  to  allow 
that  whatever  Satan  had  of  heavenly  beauty  before  the 
fall,  he  lost  it  all  when  he  commenced  Devil ;  so  to  fetch 
his  original  so  far  up,  would  be  only  to  say,  that  he  re- 
tained nothing  but  the  cloven  foot ;  and  that  all  the 
rest  of  him  was  altered  and  deformed,  become  horrible 
and  frightful  as  the  Devil ;  but  his  cloven  foot,  as  we 
now  understand  it,  is  rather  mystical  and  emblematic, 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  215 

and  describes  him  only  as  the  fountain  of  mischief  and 
treason,  and  the  prince  of  hypocrites  ;  and  as  such  we 
are  now  to  speak  of  him. 

It  is  from  this  original  all  the  hypocritic  world  copy; 
he  wears  the  foot  on  their  account,  and  from  this  model 
they  act.  This  made  our  hlessed  Lord  tell  them  "The 
works  of  your  father  ye  will  do,"  meaning  the  Devil, 
as  he  had  expressed  it  just  before. 

Nor  does  he  deny  the  use  of  the  foot  to  the  meaner 
class  of  his  disciples  in  the  world,  but  decently  equips 
them  all,  upon  every  occasion,  with  a  needful  propor- 
tion of  hypocrisy  and  deceit ;  that  they  may  hand  on 
the  power  of  promiscuous  fraud  through  all  his  tempo- 
ral dominions,  and  wear  the  foot  always  about  them, 
as  a  badge  of  their  professed  share  in  whatever  is  done 
by  that  means. 

Thus  every  dissembler,  every  false  friend,  every 
secret  cheat,  every  bear-skin  jobber,  has  a  cloven  foot ; 
and  so  far  hands  on  the  Devil's  interest  by  the  same 
powerful  agency  of  art,  as  the  Devil  himself  uses  to 
act  when  he  appears  in  person,  or  would  act  if  he  was 
just  now  upon  the  spot ;  for  this  foot  is  a  machine 
which  is  to  be  wound  up  and  wound  down,  as  the 
cause  it  appears  for  requires;  and  there  are  agents  and 
engineers  to  act  in  it  by  the  directions  of  Satan  (the 
grand  engineer,)  who  lies  still  in  his  retirement,  only 
issuing  out  his  orders  as  he  sees  convenient. 

Again,  every  class,  every  trade,  every  shopkeeper, 
every  pedlar,  nay,  that  meanest  of  tradesmen,  the 
church  pedlar  the  Pope,  has  a  cloven  foot,  with  which 
he  paw-loo's  upon  the  world;  wishes  them  all  well, 
and  at  the  same  time  cheats  them;  wishes  them  all 
fed,  and  at  the  same  time  starves  them ;  wishes  them 
all  in  Heaven,  and  at  the  same  time  marches  before 
them  directly  to  the  Devil,  d-la-mode  de  cloven  foot. 

Nay,  the  very  bench,  the  ever-living  foundation  of 
justice  in  the  world ;  how  often  has  it  been  made  the 
tool  of  violence,  the  refuge  of  oppression,  the  seat  of 
bribery  and  corruption,  by  this  monster  in  masquerade, 
and  that  everywhere,  (our  own  country  always  ex- 
cepted!)  They  had  much  better  wipe  out  the  picture 
of  justice  blinded,  and  having  the  sword  and  scales  in 
Jier  hand,  which  in  foreign  countries  is  generally 


216  THE   MODERN   HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

painted  over  the  seat  of  those  who  sit  to  do  justice,  and 
place,  instead  thereof,  a  naked,  unarmed  cloven  hoof, 
a  proper  emblem  of  that  spirit  that  influences  the 
world,  and  of  the  justice  we  often  see  administered 
among  them.  Human  imagination  cannot  form  an 
idea  more  suitable,  nor  the  Devil  propose  an  engine 
more  or  better  qualified  for  an  operation  of  justice,  by 
the  influence  of  bribery  and  corruption ;  it  is  this  mag- 
nipotent  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Devil,  which, 
under  the  closest  disguise,  agitates  every  passion, 
bribes  every  affection,  blackens  every  virtue,  gives  a 
double  face  to  words  and  actions,  and  to  all  persons 
who  have  any  concern  to  them,  and,  in  a  word,  makes 
us  all  devils  to  one  another. 

Indeed  the  Devil  has  taken  but  a  dark  emblem  to 
be  distinguished  by ;  for  this  of  a  goat  was  said  to  be  a 
creature  hated  by  mankind  from  the  beginning,  and 
that  there  is  a  natural  antipathy  in  mankind  against 
them  :  hence  the  scape- goat  was  to  bear  the  sins  of 
the  people,  and  to  go  into  the  wilderness  with  all  that 
burden  upon  him. 

But  we  have  a  saying  among  us,  in  defence  of  which 
we  must  inquire  into  the  proper  sphere  of  action,  which 
may  be  assigned  to  this  cloven  foot,  as  hitherto 
described.  The  proverb  is  this  :  Every  devil  has  not 
a  cloven  foot.  This  proverb,  instead  of  giving  us  some 
more  favorable  thoughts  of  the  Devil,  confirms  "what  I 
have  said  already,  that  the  Devil  raised  this  scandal 
upon  himself;  I  mean  the  report  that  he  cannot  con- 
ceal or  disguise  his  devil's  foot  or  hoof,  but  that  it 
must  appear,  under  whatever  habit  he  shows  himself; 
and  the  reason  I  gave  holds  good  still ;  namely,  that 
he  may  be  more  effectually  concealed  when  he  goes 
abroad  without  it :  for  if  the  people  were  fully  per- 
suaded that  the  Devil  could  not  appear  without  this 
badge  of  his  honor,  or  mark  of  his  infamy,  take  it  as 
you  will ;  and  that  he  was  bound  also  to  show  it  upon 
all  occasions ;  it  would  be  natural  to  conclude,  that 
whatever  frightful  appearances  might  be  seen  in  the 
world,  if  the  cloven  foot  did  not  also  appear,  we  had 
no  occasion  to  look  for  the  Devil,  or  so  much  as  to 
think  of  him,  much  less  to  apprehend  he  was  so  near 
us;  and  as  this  might  be  a  mistake,  and  that  the  Devil 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  217 

might  be  there  while  we  thought  ourselves  so  secure, 
it  might  on  many  occasions  be  a  mistake  of  very  ill 
consequence ;  and  in  particular,  as  it  would  give  the 
Devil  room  to  act  in  the  dark,  and  not  to  be  discov- 
ered, where  it  might  be  most  needful  to  know  him. 

From  this  short  hint,  thus  repeated,  I  draw  a  new 
thesis;  namely,  that  devil  is  most  dangerous  that  has 
no  cloven  foot ;  or,  if  you  will  have  it  in  words  more 
to  the  common  understanding,  the  Devil  seems  to  be 
most  dangerous  when  he  goes  without  his  cloven  foot 

And  here  a  learned  speculation  effers  itself  to  our 
debate,  and  which  indeed  I  ought  to  call  a  council  of 
casuists,  and  men  learned  in  the  Devil's  politics,  to 
determine  : 

Whether  is  most  hurtful  to  the  world,  the  Devil 
walking  about  without  his  cloven  foot,  or  the  cloven 
foot  walking  about  without  the  Devil  ? 

It  is  indeed  a  nice  and  difficult  question,  and  merits 
to  be  well  inquired  into;  for  which  reason,  and  divers 
others,  I  have  referred  it  to  be  treated  with  some 
decency,  and  as  a  dispute  of  dignity,  sufficient  to  take 
up  a  chapter  by  itself. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Whether  is  most  hurtful  to  the  world,  the  Devil  walk- 
ing about  without  his  cloven  foot,  or  the  cloven  foot 
walking  about  without  the  Devil  ? 

IN  discussing  this  most  critical  distinction  of  Satan's 
private  motions,  I  must,  as  the  pulpit  gentlemen  direct 
us,  explain  the  text,  and  let  you  know  what  I  mean 
by  several  dark  expressions  in  it,  that  1  may  not  be 
understood  to  talk  (as  the  Devil  walks)  in  the  dark. 

1.  As  to  the  Devil's  walking  about. 

2.  His  walking  without  his  cloven  foot. 

3.  The   cloven   foot   walking    about   without    the 
Devil. 

Now  as  I  study  brevity,  and  yet  would  be  under- 
stood too,   you  may  please   to   understand   me   as   I 
understand  myself;  thus : 
19 


218  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

1.  That  I  must  be  allowed  to  suppose  the  Devil 
really  has  an  intercourse  in,  and  through,  and  about 
this  globe,  with  egress  and  regress,  for  the  carrying 
on-  his  special  affairs,  when,  how,  and  where,  to  his 
majesty,  in  his  great  wisdom,  it  shall  seem  meet;  that 
sometimes  he  appears  and  becomes  visible,  and  that, 
like  a  mastiff  without  his  clog,  he  does  not  always 
carry  his  cloven  foot  with  him.     This  will  necessarily 
bring  me  to  some  debate  upon  the  most  important 
question    of    apparitions,    hauntings,    walking,    &c.y 
whether  of  Satan  in  human  shape,  or  of  human  crea- 
tures in  the  Devil's  shape,  or  in  any  other  manner 
whatsoever. 

2.  I  must  also  be  allowed  to  tell  you,  that  Satan  has 
a  great  deal  of  wrong  done  him  by  the  general  embrac- 
ing vulgar  errors,  and  that  there  is  a  cloven  foot  often- 
times without  a  devil ;  or,  in  short,  that  Satan  is  not 
guilty  of  all  the  simple  things,  no,  or  of  all  the  wicked 
things  we  charge  him  with. 

These  two  heads  well  settled  will  fully  explain  the 
title  of  this  chapter,  answer  the  query  mentioned  in  it, 
and  at  the  same  time  correspond  very  well  with,  and 
give  us  a  farther  prospect  into,  the  main  and  original 
design  of  this  work  ;  namely,  the  history  of  the  Devil. 
We  are  so  fond  of,  and  pleased  with,  the  general  notion 
of  seeing  the  Devil,  that  I  am  loth  to  disoblige  my 
readers  so  much  as  the  calling  in  question  his  visibil- 
ity would  do.  Nor  is  it  my  business,  any  more  than 
it  is  his,  to  undeceive  them,  where  the  belief  is  so 
agreeable  to  them;  especially,  since,  upon  the  whole, 
it  is  not  one  farthing  matter,  either  on  one  side  or  on 
the  other,  whether  it  be  so  or  no,  or  whether  the  truth 
of  fact  be  ever  discovered  or  not. 

Certain  it  is,  whether  we  see  him  or  no,  here  he  is, 
and  I  make  no  doubt  but  he  is  looking  on  while  I  am 
writing  this  part  of  his  story,  whether  behind  me,  or 
at  my  elbow,  or  over  my  shoulder,  is  not  material  to 
me,  nor  have  I  once  turned  my  head  about  to  see 
whether  he  is  there  or  no ;  for  if  he  be  not  in  the  inside, 
I  have  so  mean  an  opinion  of  all  his  extravasated 
powers,  that  it  seems  of  very  little  consequence  to  me 
what  shape  he  takes  up,  or  in  what  posture  he 
appears ;  nor  indeed  can  I  find  in  all  my  inquiry,  that 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  219 

ever  the  Devil  appeared  (qim  devil)  in  any  of  the  most 
dangerous  or  important  of  his  designs  in  the  world ; 
the  most  of  his  projects,  especially  of  the  significant 
part  of  them,  having  been  carried  on  another  way. 

However,  as  I  am  satisfied  nobody  will  be  pleased 
if  I  should  dispute  the  reality  of  his  appearance,  and 
the  world  runs  away  with  it  as  a  received  point,  and 
that  admits  no  dispute,  I  shall  most  readily  grant  the 
general,  and  give  you  some  account  of  the  particulars. 

History  is  fruitful  of  particulars,  whether  invention 
has  supplied  them  or  not,  I  will  not  say,  where  the 
Devil  is  brought  upon  the  stage  in  plain  and  undeni- 
able apparition.  The  story  of  Samuel  being  raised  by 
the  witch  of  Endor,  I  shall  leave  quite  out  of  my  list, 
because  there  are  so  many  scruples  and  objections 
against  that  story ;  and  as  I  shall  not  dispute  with  the 
scripture,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  so  much  defer- 
ence for  the  dignity  of  the  Devil,  as  not  to  determine 
rashly  how  far  it  may  be  in  the  power  of  every  old 
(witch)  woman,  to  call  him  up  whenever  she  pleases, 
and  that  he  must  come,  whatever  the  pretence  is,  or 
whatever  business  of  consequence  he  may  be  engaged 
in,  as  often  as  it  is  needful  for  her  to  paw-wa  for  half 
a  crown,  or  perhaps  less  than  half  the  money. 

Nor  will  I  undertake  to  tell  you,  till  I  have  talked 
farther  with  him  about  it,  how  far  the  Devil  is  con- 
cerned to  discover  frauds,  detect  murders,  reveal 
secrets,  and  especially  to  tell  where  any  money  is  hid, 
and  show  folks  where  to  find  it ;  it  is  an  odd  thing 
that  Satan  should  think  it  of  consequence  to  come  and 
tell  us  where  such  a  miser  hid  a  strong  box,  or  where 
such  an  old  woman  buried  a  pot  full  of  money ;  the 
value  of  all  which  is  perhaps  but  a  trifle,  when  at  the 
same  time  he  lets  so  many  veins  of  gold,  so  many  un- 
exhausted mines,  nay,  mountains  of  silver,  as,  we 
may  depend  upon  it,  are  hid  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  and  which  it  would  be  so  much  to  the  good  of 
whole  nations  to  discover,  lie  still  there,  and  never  say 
one  word  of  them  to  anybody.  Besides,  how  does  the 
Devil's  doing  things  so  foreign  to  himself,  and  so  out 
of  his  way,  agree  with  the  rest  of  his  character; 
namely,  showing  a  kind  of  a  friendly  disposition  to 
mankind,  or  doing  beneficent  things  ?  This  is  so 


220  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

beneath  Satan's  quality,  and  looks  so  little,  that  1 
scarce  know  what  to  say  to  it ;  but  that  which  is  still 
more  pungent  in  the  case  is,  these  things  are  so  out  of 
his  road,  and  so  foreign  to  his  calling,  that  it  shocks 
our  faith  in  them,  and  seems  to  clash  with  all  the  just 
notions  we  have  of  him.  and  of  his  business  in  the 
world.  The  like  is  to  be  said  of  those  little  merry 
turns  we  bring  him  in  acting  with  us,  and  upon  us, 
upon  trifling  and  simple  occasions,  such  as  tumbling 
chairs  and  stools  about  the  house,  setting  pots  and  ves- 
sels bottom  upward,  tossing  the  glass  and  crockery 
ware  about,  without  breaking ;  and  such  like  mean 
foolish  things,  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  Devil,  who, 
in  my  opinion,  is  rather  employed  in  setting  the  world 
with  the  bottom  upward,  tumbling  kings  and  crowns 
about,  and  dashing  the  nations  one  against  another ; 
raising  tempests  and  storms,  whether  at  sea  or  on 
shore ;  and,  in  a  word,  doing  capital  mischiefs  suitable 
to  his  nature,  and  agreeable  to  his  name,  Devil ;  and 
suited  to  that  circumstance  of  his  condition,  which  I 
have  fully  represented  in  the  primitive  part  of  his 
exiled  state. 

But  to  bring  in  the  Devil  playing  at  push-pin  with 
the  world,  or  like  Domitian  catching  flies ;  that  is  to 
say,  doing  nothing  to  the  purpose ;  this  is  not  only- 
deluding  ourselves,  but  putting  a  slur  upon  the  Devil 
himself;  and  I  say,  I  shall  not  dishonor  Satan  so 
much  as  to  suppose  anything  in  it.  However,  as  I 
must  have  a  care  too  how  I  take  away  the  proper 
materials  of  winter  evening  frippery,  and  leave  the 
good  wives  nothing  of  the  Devil  to  fright  the  children 
with,  I  shall  carry  the  weighty  point  no  farther.  No 
doubt  the  Devil  and  Dr.  Faustus  were  very  intimate ; 
I  should  rob  you  of  a  very  significant  proverb,^  if  I 
should  so  much  as  doubt  it;  no  doubt  the  Devil 
showed  himself  in  the  glass  to  that  fair  lady  who 
looked  in  it  to  see  where  to  place  her  patches ;  but 
then  it  should  follow  too,  that  the  Devil  is  an  enemy 
to  the  ladies  wearing  patches  ;  and  that  has  some 
difficulties  in  it  which  we  cannot  so  easily  reconcile; 
but  we  must  tell  the  story,  and  leave  out  the  conse- 
quences. 

*  As  great  as  the  Devil  and  Dr.  Faustus.    Vulg.  Dr.  Foster. 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY   OF   THE    DEVIL.  221 

But  to  come  to  more  remarkable  things,  and  in 
which  the  Devil  has  thought  fit  to  act  in  a  figure 
more  suitable  to  his  dignity,  and  on  occasions  con- 
sistent with  himself;  take  the  story  of  the  appearance 
of  Julius  Caesar,  or  the  Devil  assuming  that  murdered 
emperor,  to  the  great  Marcus  Brutus,  who,  notwith- 
standing all  the  good  things  said  to  justify  it,  was  no 
less  than  a  king-killer  and  an  assassinator,  which  we 
in  our  language  call  by  a  very  good  name,  and  peculiar 
to  the  English  tongue,  a  ruffian. 

The  spectre  had  certainly  the  appearance  of  Caesar, 
with  his  wounds  bleeding  afresh,  as  if  he  had  just  re- 
ceived the  fatal  blow ;  he  had  reproached  him  with  his 
ingratitude,  with  "What,  thou,  Brutus!  Thou,  my 
adopted  son !"  Now,  history  seems  to  agree  univer- 
sally, not  only  in  the  story  itself,  but  in  the  circum- 
stances of  it ;  we  have  only  to  observe,  that  the  Devil 
had  certainly  power  to  assume,  not  an  human  shape 
only,  but  the,  shape  of  Julius  Caesar  in  particular. 

Had  Brutus  been  a  timorous,  conscience-harried, 
weak-headed  wretch,  had  he  been  under  the  horror  of 
the  guilt,  and  terrified  with  the  dangers  that  were  be- 
fore him  at  that  time,  we  might  suggest  that  he  was 
over-run  with  the  vapors,  that  the  terrors  which  were 
upon  his  mind  disordered  him,  that  his  head  was  deli- 
rious and  prepossessed,  and  that  his  fancy  only  placed 
Caesar  so  continually  in  his  eye,  that  it  realized  him  to 
his  imagination,  and  he  believed  he  saw  him;  with 
many  other  suggested  difficulties  to  invalidate  the 
story,  and  render  the  reality  of  it  doubtful. 

But  the  contrary,  to  an  extreme,  was  the  case  of 
Brutus;  his  known  character  placed  him  above  the 
power  of  all  hypochondriacs,  or  fanciful  delusions; 
Brutus  was  of  a  true  Roman  spirit,  a  bold  hero,  of  an 
intrepid  courage ;  one  that  scorned  to  fear  even  the 
Devil,  as  the  story  allows.  Besides,  he  gloried  in  the 
action  ;  there  could  be  no  terror  of  mind  upon  him ;  he 
valued  himself  upon  it,  as  done  in  the  service  of  lib- 
erty, and  the  cause  of  his  country;  and  was  so  far 
from  being  frighted  at  the  Devil  in  the  worst  shape, 
that  he  spoke  first  to  him,  and  asked  him,  What  art 
thou?  And  when  he  was  cited  to  see  him  again  at 
Philippi,  answered,  with  a  gallantry  that  knew  no  fear, 


222  THE   MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL. 

Well,  I  will  see  thee  there.  Whatever  the  Devil's 
business  was  with  Brutus,  this  is  certain,  according  to 
all  the  historians  who  give  us  the  account  of  it,  that 
Brutus  discovered  no  fear;  he  did  not,  like  Saul,  at 
Endor,  fall  to  the  ground  in  a  swoon,  1  Sam.  xxviii. 
20.  "  Then  Saul  fell  all  along  upon  the  earth,  and  there 
was  no  strength  in  him,  and  was  sore  afraid."  In  a 
word,  I  see  no  room  to  charge  Brutus  with  being  over- 
run with  the  hypo,  or  with  vapors,  or  with  fright  and 
terror  of  mind;  but  he  saw  the  Devil,  that  is  certain, 
and  with  eyes  open,  his  courage  not  at  all  daunted, 
his  mind  resolute,  and  with  the  utmost  composure 
spoke  to  him,  replied  to  his  answer,  and  defied  his 
summons  to  death,  which  indeed  he  feared  not,  as 
appeared  afterward. 

I  come  next  to  an  instance  as  eminent  in  history  as 
the  other;  this  was  in  Charles  VI.  of  France,  surnamed 
the  Beloved ;  who  riding  over  the  forest  near  Mans, 
a  ghastly  frightful  fellow  (that  is  to  say>  ther Devil  so 
clothed  in  human  vizor,)  came  up  to  his  horse,  and 
taking  hold  of  his  bridle,  stopped  him,  with  the  addition 
of  these  words,  Stop,  king;  whither  go  you ?  You  are 
betrayed !  and  immediately  disappeared.  It  is  true, 
the  king  had  been  distempered  in  his  head  before,  and 
so  he  might  have  been  deceived ;  and  we  might  have 
charged  it  to  the  account  of  a  whimsical  brain,  or  the 
power  of  his  imagination ;  but  this  was  in  the  face  of 
his  attendants,  several  of  his  great  officers,  courtiers, 
and  princes  of  the  blood,  being  with  him,  who  all  saw 
the  man,  heard  the  words,  and  immediately,  to  their 
astonishment,  lost  sight  of  the  spectre,  who  vanished 
from  them  all. 

Two  witnesses  will  convict  a  murderer,  why  not  a 
traitor?  This  must  be  the  old  gentleman,  emblemati- 
cally so  called,  or  who  must  it  be?  nay,  who  else  could 
it  be?  His  ugliness  is  not  the  case,  though  ugly  as  the 
Devil,  is  a  proverb  in  his  favor ;  but  vanishing  out  of 
sight  is  an  essential  to  a  spirit,  and  to  an  evil  spirit  in 
our  times  especially. 

These  are  some  of  the  Devil's  extraordinaries,  and 
it  must  be  confessed  they  are  not  the  most  agreeable  to 
mankind ;  for  sometimes  he  takes  upon  him  to  disorder 
his  friends  very  much  on  these  occasions,  as  in  the 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  223 

above  case  of  Charles  VI.  of  France ;  the  king,  they 
say,  was  really  demented  ever  after ;  that  is,  as  we 
vulgarly,  but  not  always  improperly,  express  it,  he 
was  really  frightened  out  of  his  wits.  Whether  the 
malicious  Devil  intended  it  so,  or  not.  is  not  certain, 
though  it  was  not  so  foreign  to  his  particular  disposi- 
tion if  he  did. 

But  where  he  is  more  intimate,  we  are  told  he  ap- 
pears in  a  manner  less  disagreeable,  and  there  he  is 
more  properly  a  familiar  spirit,  that  is,  in  short,  a  Devil 
of  their  acquaintance.  It  is  true,  the  ancients  under- 
stand the  word,  a  familiar  spirit,  to  be  one  of  the  kinds 
of  possession ;  but  if  it  serves  our  turn  as  well  under 
the  denomination  of  an  intimate  devil,  or  a  devil  visi- 
tant, it  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  as  near  in  the 
literal  sense  and  acceptation  of  the  word,  as  the  other ; 
nay,  it  must  be  allowed  it  is  a  very  great  piece  of 
familiarity  in  the  Devil  to  make  visits,  and  show  none 
of  his  disagreeables,  not  appear  formidable,  or  in  the 
shape  of  what  he  is,  respectfully  withholding  his 
dismal  part,  in  compassion  to  the  infirmities  of  his 
friends. 

It  is  true,  Satan  may  be  obliged  to  make  different 
appearances,  as  the  several  circumstances  of  things 
call  for  it;  in  some  cases  he  makes  his  public  entry, 
and  then  he  must  show  himself  in  his  habit  of  cere- 
mony ;  in  other  cases  he  comes  upon  private  business, 
and  then  he  appears  in  disguise ;  in  some  public  cases 
he  may  think  fit  to  be  incog,  and  then  he  appears 
dressed  a -la-masque  ;  so  they  say  he  appeared  at  the 
famous  St.  Bartholomew  wedding  at  Paris,  where  he 
came  in  dressed  up  like  a  trumpeter,  danced  in  his 
habit,  sounded  a  Levet,  and  then  went  out  and  rung 
the  alarm  bell  (which  was  the  signal  to  begin  the 
massacre,)  half  an  hour  before  the  time  appointed, 
lest  the  king's  mind  should  alter,  and  his  heart  fail 
him. 

If  the  story  be  not  made  upon  him  (for  we  should 
not  slander  the  Devil,)  it  should  seem,  he  was  not 
thoroughly  satisfied  in  King  Charles  IX.'s  steadiness 
in  his  cause ;  for  the  king,  it  seems,  had  relaxed  a  little 
once  before ;  and  Satan  might  be  afraid  he  would  fall 
off  again,  and  so  prevent  the  execution.  Others  say 


224  THE  MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

the  king  did  relent  immediately  after  the  ringing  the 
alarm  bell;  but  that  then  it  was  too  late,  the  work 
was  begun,  and  the  rage  of  blood  having  been  let  loose 
among  the  people,  there  was  no  recalling  the  order. 
If  the  Devil  was  thus  brought  to  the  necessity  of  a 
secret  management,  it  must  be  owned  he  did  it  dex- 
terously ;  but  I  have  not  authority  enough  for  the 
story,  to  charge  him  with  the  particulars,  so  I  leave  it 
au  croc. 

I  have  much  better  vouchers  for  the  story  following, 
which  I  had  so  solemnly  confirmed  by  one  that  lived 
in  the  family,  that  I  never  doubted  the  truth  of  it. 
There  lived,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Bennet  Fynk,  near 
the  Royal  Exchange,  an  honest  poor  widow  woman, 
who,  her  husband  being  lately  dead,  took  lodgers  into 
her  house ;  that  is,  she  let  out  some  of  her  rooms,  in 
order  to  lessen  her  own  charge  of  rent ;  among  the  rest, 
she  let  her  garrets  to  a  working  watch-wheel-maker, 
or  one  some  way  concerned  in  making  the  movements 
of  watches,  and  who  worked  to  those  shopkeepers  who 
sell  watches,  as  is  usual. 

It  happened  that  a  man  and  woman  went  up,  to 
speak  with  this  movement-maker  upon  some  business 
which  related  to  his  trade ;  and  when  they  were  near 
the  top  of  the  stairs,  the  garret  door  where  he  usually 
worked  being  wide  open,  they  saw  the  poor  man  (the- 
watch  maker,  or  wheel  maker,)  had  hanged  himself 
upon  a  beam  which  was  left  open  in  the  room  a  little 
lower  than  the  plaster,  or  ceiling.  Surprised  at  the 
sight,  the  woman  stopped,  and  cried  out  to  the  man,  who 
was  behind  her  on  the  stairs,  that  he  should  run  up, 
and  cut  the  poor  creature  down. 

At  that  very  moment  comes  a  man  hastily  from 
another  part  of  the  room  which  they  upon  the  stairs 
could  not  see,  bringing  a  joint  stool  in  his  hand,  as  if 
in  great  haste,  and  sets  it  down  just  by  the  wretch  that 
was  hanged,  and,  getting  up  as  hastily  upon  it,  pulls 
a  knife  out  of  his  pocket,  and,  taking  hold  of  the  rope 
with  one  of  his  hands,  beckoned  to  the  woman  and 
the  man  behind  her  with  his  head,  as  if  to  stop,  and 
not  come  up,  showing  them  the  knife  in  his  other 
hand,  as  if  he  was  just  going  to  cut  the  poor  man 
down. 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  225 

Upon  this,  the  woman  stopped  a  while,  but  the  man 
who  stood  on  the  joint-stool  continued  with  his  hand 
and  knife  as  if  fumbling  at  the  knot,  but  did  not  yet 
cut  the  man  down ;  at  which  the  woman  cried  out 
again,  and  the  man  behind  her  called  to  her,  "  Go  up," 
says  he,  "  and  help  the  man  upon  the  stool !  "  suppos- 
ing something  hindered.  But  the  man  upon  the  stool 
made  signs  to  them  again  to  be  quiet,  and  not  come 
on,  as  if  saying,  I  shall  do  it  immediately ;  then  he 
made  two  strokes  with  his  knife,  as  if  cutting  the  rope, 
and  then  stopped  again ;  and  still  the  poor  man  was 
hanging,  and,  consequently,  dying.  Upon  this,  the 
woman  on  the  stairs  cried  out  to  him,  "What  ails  you? 
Why  don't  you  cut  the  poor  man  down?"  And  the 
man  behind  her,  having  no  more  patience,  thrusts  her 
by,  and  said  to  her,  "  Let  me  come,  I'll  warrant  you 
I'll  doit;"  and  with  that  runs  up  and  forward  into 
the  room  to  the  man ;  but  when  he  came  there,  behold, 
the  poor  man  was  there  hanging ;  but  no  man  with  a 
knife,  or  joint-stool,  or  any  such  thing  to  be  seen ;  all 
that  was  spectre  and  delusion,  in  order,  no  doubt,  to 
let  the  poor  creature  that  had  hanged  himself  perish 
and  expire. 

The  man  was  so  frighted  and  surprised,  that  with 
all  the  courage  he  had  before,  he  dropped  on  the  floor 
as  one  dead ;  and  the  woman  at  last  was  fain  to  cut 
the  poor  man  down  with  a  pair  of  scissors,  and  had 
much  to  do  to  effect  it. 

As  I  have  no  room  to  doubt  the  truth  of  this  story, 
which  I  had  from  persons  on  whose  honesty  I  could 
depend,  so  I  think  it  needs  very  little  trouble  to  con- 
vince us  who  the  man  upon  the  stool  must  be,  and  that 
it  was  the  Devil  who  placed  himself  there,  in  order  to 
finish  the  murder  of  the  man,  whom  he  had,  devil-like, 
tempted  before,  and  prevailed  with  to  be  his  own  exe- 
cutioner. Besides,  it  corresponds  so  well  with  the 
Devil's  nature,  and  with  his  business;  namely,  that 
of  a  murderer ;  that  I  never  questioned  it ;  nor  can  I 
think  we  wrong  the  Devil  at  all  to  charge  him  with  it. 

N.  B.  I  cannot  be  positive  in  the  remaining  part  of 
this  story;  namely,  whether  the  man  was  cut  down 
soon  enough  to  be  recovered,  or  whether  the  Devil 
carried  his  point,  and  kept  off  the  man  and  woman  till 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

it  was  too  late ;  but  be  it  which  it  will,  it  is  plain  ha 
did  his  devilish  endeavor,  and  stayed  till  he  was  forced 
to  abscond  again. 

We  have  many  solid  tales  well  attested,  as  well  in 
history  as  in  the  reports  of  honest  people,  who  could 
not  be  deceived,  intimating  the  Devil's  personal  ap- 
pearance, some  in  one  place,  some  in  another ;  as  also 
sometimes  in  one  habit  or  dress,  and  sometimes  in  an- 
other ;  and  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  in  none  of  those 
which  are  most  like  to  be  real,  and  in  which  there  is 
least  of  fancy  and  vapor,  you  have  any  mention  of 
the  cloven  foot ;  which  rather  seems  to  be  a  mere  in- 
vention of  men,  (and  perhaps  chiefly  of  those  who  had 
a  cloven  understanding,  I  mean  a  shallow  kind  of 
craft,  the  effect  of  an  empty  and  simple  head,)  think- 
ing by  such  a  well-meant,  though  weak  fraud,  to  rep- 
resent the  Devil  to  the  old  women  and  children  of  the 
age,  with  some  addition  suitable  to  the  weakness  of 
their  intellects,  and  suited  to  making  them  afraid  of 
him. 

I  have  another  account  of  a  person  who  travelled 
upwards  of  four  years  with  the  Devil  in  his  company, 
and  conversed  most  intimately  with  him  all  the  while ; 
nay,  if  I  may  believe  the  story,  he  knew  most  part  of 
the  time  that  he  was  the  Devil,  and  yet  conversed  with 
him,  and  that  very  profitably ;  for  he  performed  many 
very  useful  services  for  him,  and  constantly  preserved 
him  from  the  danger  of  wolves  and  wild  beasts,  which 
the  country  he  travelled  through  was  intolerably  full 
of.  Where,  by  the  way,  you  are  to  understand,  that 
the  wolves  and  bears  in  those  countries  knew  the  De- 
vil, whatever  disguise  he  went  in ;  or  that  the  Devil 
has  some  way  to  fright  bears,  and  such  creatures, 
more  than  we  know  of.  Nor  could  this  devil  ever  be 
prevailed  upon  to  hurt  him,  or  any  of  his  company. 
This  account  has  an  innumerable  series  of  diverting 
incidents  attending  it ;  but  they  are  equal  to  all  the  rest 
in  bulk,  and  therefore  too  long  for  this  book. 

I  find  too  upon  some  more  ordinary  occasions  the 
Devil  has  appeared  to  several  people  at  their  call. 
This  indeed  shows  abundance  of  good  humor  in  him, 
considering  him  as  a  devil,  and  that  he  was  mighty 
complaisant.  Nay,  some,  they  tell  us,  have  a  power 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  227 

to  raise  the  devil  whenever  they  think  fit ;  this  I  can- 
not bring  the  Devil  to  a  level  with,  unless  I  should 
allow  him  to  be  se?wts  servorum,  as  another  devil  in 
disguise  calls  himself;  subjected  to  every  old  wizard's 
call ;  or  that  he  is  under  a  necessity  of  appearing  on 
such  or  such  particular  occasions,  whoever  it  is  that 
calls  him ;  which  would  bring  the  Devil's  circumstances 
to  a  pitch  of  slavery  which  I  see  no  reason  to  believe 
of  them. 

Here  also  I  must  take  notice  again,  that  though  I  say 
the  Devil,  when  I  speak  of  all  these  apparitions,  whe- 
ther of  a  greater  or  lesser  kind,  yet  I  am  not  obliged  to 
suppose  Satan  himself  in  person  is  concerned  to  show 
himself;  but  that  some  of  his  agents,  deputies,  and 
servants,  are  sent  to  that  purpose,  and  directed  what 
disguise  of  flesh  and  blood  to  put  on,  as  may  be  suita- 
ble to  the  occasion. 

This  seems  to  be  the  only  way  to  reconcile  all  those 
simple  and  ridiculous  appearances  which  not  Satan, 
but  his  emissaries  (which  we  old  women  call  imps,) 
sometimes  make,  and  the  mean  and  sorry  employment 
they  are  put  to.  Thus  fame  tells  us  of  a  certain  witch 
of  quality,  who  called  the  Devil  once  to  carry  her  over 
a  brook  where  the  water  was  swelled  with  an  hasty 
rain,  and  lashed  him  soundly  with  her  whip  for  letting 
her  ladyship  fall  into  the  water  before  she  was  quite 
over.  Thus  also,  as  fame  tells  us,  she  set  the  Devil 
to  work,  and  made  him  build  Crowland  Abbey,  where 
there  was  no  foundation  to  be  found,  only  for  disturb- 
ing the  workmen  a  little  who  were  first  set  about  it. 
So  it  seems  another  laborious  devil  was  obliged  to  dig 
the  great  ditch  cross  the  country  from  the  Fen  coun- 
try to  the  edge  of  Suffolk  and  Essex ;  which  however 
he  has  preserved  the  reputation  of.  and  where  it  cross- 
es New  Market  Heath,  it  is  called  Devil's  Ditch  to  this 
day. 

Another  piece  of  punishment  no  doubt  it  was,  when 
the  Devil  was  obliged  to  bring  the  stones  out  of  Wales 
into  Wiltshire,  to  build  Stone-henge.  How  this  was 
ordered  in  those  days,  when  it  seems  they  kept  Satan  to 
hard  labor,  I  know  not;  I  believe  it  must  be  registered 
among  the  ancient  pieces  of  art  which  are  lost  in  the 
world,  such  as  melting  of  stone,  painting  of  glass,  &c. 


228  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE   DEVIL. 

Certainly  they  had  the  Devil  under  correction  in  those 
days ;  that  is  to  say,  those  lesser  sorts  of  devils ;  but 
I  cannot  think  that  the  muckle  thief  Devil,  as  they 
call  him  in  the  north,  the  grand  signor  Devil  of  all,  was 
ever  reduced  to  discipline.  What  devil  it  was  that 
Dunstan  took  by  the  nose  with  his  red-hot  tongs,  I 
have  not  yet  examined  antiquity  enough  to  be  certain 
of,  any  more  than  I  can  what  devil  it  was  that  St. 
Francis  played  so  many  warm  tricks  with,  and  made 
him  run  away  from  him  so  often.  However,  this  I 
take  upon  me  to  say,  in  the  Devil's  behalf,  that  it 
could  not  be  our  Satan,  the  arch-devil  of  all  devils,  of 
whom  I  have  been  talking  so  long. 

Nor  is  it  unworthy  the  occasion  to  take  notice,  that 
we  really  wrong  the  Devil,  and  speak  of  him  very 
much  to  his  disadvantage,  when  we  say  of  such  a 
great  lord,  or  of  such  a  lady  of  quality,  "I  think  the 
Devil  is  in  your  grace."  No,  no,  Satan  has  other 
business ;  he  very  rarely  possesses  fools :  besides, 
some  are  so  far  from  having  the  Devil  in  them,  that 
they  are  really  transmigrated  into  the  very  essence  of 
the  Devil  themselves ;  and  others  again  not  transmi- 
grated, or  assimilated,  but  in  deed,  and  in  truth,  show 
us  that  they  are  or  have  mere  native  devils  in  every 
part  and  parcel  of  them ;  and  that  the  rest  is  only 
masque  and  disguise.  Thus,  if  rage,  envy,  pride  and 
revenge,  can  constitute  the  parts  of  a  devil,  why  should 
not  a  lady  of  such  quality,  in  whom  all  those  extra- 
ordinaries  abound,  have  a  right  to  the  title  of  being  a 
devil,  really  and  substantially,  and  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  in  the  most  perfect  and  absolute  sense, 
according  to  the  most  exquisite  descriptions  of  devils 
already  given  by  me,  or  anybody  else  ?  And  even 
just  as  Joan  of  Arc,  or  Joan,  Queen  of  Naples,  were ; 
who  were  both  sent  home  to  their  native  country,  as 
soon  as  it  was  discovered  that  they  were  real  devils; 
and  that  Satan  acknowledged  them  in  that  quality. 

It  is  true,  in  former  times,  Satan  dealt  much  in  old 
women,  and  those,  as  I  have  observed  already,  very 
ugly,  Ugly  as  a  witch,  Black  as  a  witch,  I  look  like  a 
witch,  all  proverbial  speeches,  and  which  testified 
what  tools  it  was  Satan  generally  worked  with ;  and 
these  old  spectres,  they  tell  us,  used  to  ride  through 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  229 

the  air  in  the  night,  and  upon  broomsticks  too,  all 
mighty  homely  doings  !  Some  say  they  used  to  go  to 
visit  their  grand  signor  the  Devil,  in  those  noctural 
perambulations  :  but  be  that  as  it  will,  it  is  certain 
the  Devil  has  changed  hands,  and  that  now  he  walks 
about  the  world  clothed  in  beauty,  covered  with  the 
charms  of  the  lovely,  and  he  fails  not  to  disguise 
himself  effectually  by  it;  for  who  would  think  a  beau- 
tiful lady  could  be  a  masque  to  the  Devil  ?  and  that  a 
fine  face,  a  divine  shape,  an  heavenly  aspect,  should 
bring  the  Devil  in  her  company,  nay.  should  be  her- 
self an  apparition,  a  mere  devil  ? 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Of  the  cloven  foot  walking  about  the  world  without  the 
Devil ;  namely,  of  witches  making  bargains  for  the 
Devil ;  and  particularly  of  selling  the  soul  to  the 
Devil. 

I  HAVE  dwelt  long  upon  the  Devil  in  masque,  as  he 
goes  about  the  world  incog.,  and  especially  without 
his  cloven  foot ;  and  have  touched  upon  some  of  his 
disguises  in  the  management  of  his  interest  in  the 
world.  I  must  say  some  of  his  disguises  only ;  for 
who  can  give  a  full  account  of  all  his  tricks  and  arts 
in  so  narrow  a  compass  as  I  am  prescribed  to? 

But,  as  I  said,  that  every  devil  has  not  a  cloven 
foot,  so  I  must  add  now  for  the  present  purpose,  that 
every  cloven  foot  is  not  the  Devil. 

Not  but  that  wherever  I  should  meet  the  cloven 
hoof,  I  should  expect  that  the  Devil  was  not  far  off, 
and  should  be  apt  to  raise  the  posse  against  him,  to 
apprehend  him ;  yet  it  may  happen  otherwise,  that  is 
certain  ;  every  coin  has  its  counterfeit,  every  art  its 
pretender,  every  whore  her  admirer,  every  error  its 
patron,  and  every  day  has  its  devil. 

I  have  had  some  thought  of  making  a  full  and  com- 
plete discovery  here  of  that  great  doubt  which  has  so 
long  puzzled  the  world ;  namely,  whether  there  is  any 
such  thing  as  secret  making  bargains  with  the  Devil : 
20 


230  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

and  the  first  positive  assurance  I  can  give  you  in  the 
case,  is,  that  if  there  is  not,  it  is  not  his  fault ;  it  is  not 
for  want  of  his  endeavor,  it  is  plain,  if  you  will  pardon 
me  for  taking  so  mean  a  step,  as  that  of  quoting  scrip- 
ture; I  say,  it  is  evident  he  would  fain  have  made  a 
contract  with  our  Saviour,  and  he  bid  boldly,  (give 
him  his  due ;)  namely,  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
for  one  bend  of  his  knee.  Impudent  seraph!  To 
think  thy  Lord  should  pay  thee  homage !  How 
many  would  agree  with  him  here  for  a  less  price  ! 
They  say  Oliver  Cromwell  struck  a  bargain  with  him, 
and  that  he  gave  Oliver  the  protectorship,  but  would 
not  let  him  call  himself  king ;  which  stuck  so  close  to 
that  Furioso,  that  the  mortification  spread  into  his 
soul;  and,  it  is  said,  he  died  of  a  gangrene  in  the 
spleen.  But  take  notice,  and  do  Oliver  justice ;  I  do 
not  vouch  the  story,  neither  does  the  Bishop  say  one 
word  of  it. 

Fame  used  to  say,  that  the  old  famous  Duke  of 
Luxemburg  made  a  magic  compact  of  this  kind ;  nay, 
I  have  heard  many  an  (old  woman)  officer  of  the 
troops,  who  never  cared  to  see  his  face,  declare  that  he 
carried  the  Devil  at  his  back.  I  remember  a  certain 
author  of  a  newspaper,  in  London,  was  once  taken  up, 
and  they  say  it  cost  him  £50,  for  printing,  in  his  news, 
that  Luxemburg  was  hump-backed.  Now,  if  I  have 
resolved  the  difficulty,  namely,  that  he  was  not 
humped,  only  carried  the  Devil  at  his  back ;  I  think 
the  poor  man  should  have  his  £50  again,  or  I  should 
have  it  for  the  discovery. 

I  confess,  I  do  not  well  understand  this  compacting 
with  such  a  fellow  as  can  neither  write  nor  read;  nor 
do  I  know  who  is  the  scrivener  between  them,  or  how 
the  indenture  can  be  executed;  but  that  which  is 
worse  than  all  the  rest  is,  that,  in  the  first  place,  the 
Devil  never  keeps  articles :  he  will  contract,  perhaps, 
and  they  say  he  is  mighty  forward  to  make  con- 
ditions; but  who  shall  bind  him  to  the  performance, 
and  where  is  the  penalty  if  he  fails?  If  we  agree 
with  him,  he  will  be  apt  enough  to  claim  his  bargain, 
and  demand  payment ;  nay,  perhaps  before  it  is  due ; 
but  who  shall  make  him  stand  to  his  ? 

Besides,  he  is  a  knave  in  his  dealing ;  for  he  really 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  231 

promises  what  he  cannot  perform ;  witness  his  impu- 
dent proposal  to  our  Lord,  mentioned  above,  "  All  these 
kingdoms  will  I  give  thee!"  Lying  spirit!  Why 
they  were  none  of  thine  to  give,  no,  not  one  of  them  ; 
for  the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  kingdoms  thereof; 
nor  were  they  in  his  power  any  more  than  in  his 
right.  So  (I  have  heard  that)  some  poor  dismal  crea- 
tures have  sold  themselves  to  the  Devil  for  a  sum  of 
money,  for  so  much  cash  ;  and  yet,  even  in  that  case, 
when  the  day  of  payment  came,  I  never  heard  that  he 
brought  the  money,  or  paid  the  purchase ;  so  that  he 
is  a  scoundrel  in  his  treaties ;  for  you  shall  trust  for 
your  bargain,  but  not  be  able  to  get  your  money ;  and 
yet,  for  your  part,  he  comes  for  you  to  an  hour :  of 
which  by  itself.  • 

In  a  word,  let  me  caution  you  all,  when  you  trade 
with  the  Devil,  either  get  the  price,  or  quit  the  bar- 
gain ;  the  Devil  is  a  cunning  shaver,  he  will  wriggle 
himself  out  of  the  performance,  on  his  side,  if  possible, 
and  yet  expect  you  should  be  punctual  on  your  side. 
They  tell  you  of  a  poor  fellow  in  Herefordshire,  that 
offered  to  sell  his  soul  to  him  for  a  cow ;  and  though 
the  Devil  promised,  and,  as  they  say,  signed  the  writ- 
ings, yet  the  poor  countryman  could  never  get  the  cow 
of-  him,  but  still,  as  he  brought  a  cow  to  him,  some- 
body or  other  came,  and  challenged  it,  proving  that  it 
was  lost,  or  stolen  from  them;  so  that  the  man  got 
nothing  but  the  name  of  a  cow-stealer,  and  was,  at 
last,  carried  to  Hereford  gaol,  and  condemned  to  be 
hanged,  for  stealing  two  cows,  one  after  the  other. 
The  wicked  fellow  was  then  in  the  greatest  distress 
imaginable ;  he  summoned  his  devil  to  help  him  out, 
but  he  failed  him,  as  the  Devil  always  will ;  he  really 
had  not  stolen  the  cows,  but  they  were  found  in  his 
possession,  and  he  could  give  no  account  how  he  came 
by  them ;  at  last  he  was  driven  to  confess  the  truth, 
told  the  horrid  bargain  he  had  made,  and  how  the 
Devil  often  promised  him  a  cow,  but  never  gave  him 
one,  except  that  several  times,  in  the  morning  early, 
he  found  a  cow  put  into  his  yard,  but  it  always  proved 
to  belong  to  some  of  his  neighbors.  Whether  the  man 
was  hanged,  or  no,  the  story  does  not  relate;  but  this 
part  is  to  my  purpose  ;  that  they  that  make  bargains 


232  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

with  the  Devil,  ought  to  make  him  give  security  for 
the  performance  of  covenants ;  and  whom  the  Devil 
would  get  to  be  bound  for  him,  I  cannot  tell ;  they 
must  look  to  that  who  make  the  bargain.  Besides,  if 
he  had  not  had  a  mind  to  cheat  or  baffle  the  poor  man, 
what  need  he  have  taken  a  cow  so  near  home?  If  he 
had  such  and  such  powers  as  we  talk  of,  and  as  fancy 
and  fable  furnish  for  him,  could  not  he  have  carried  a 
cow  in  the  air,  upon  a  broomstick,  as  well  as  an  old 
woman  ?  Could  he  not  have  stolen  a  cow  for  him  in 
Lincolnshire,  and  set  it  down  in  Herefordshire,  and  so 
have  performed  his  bargain,  saved  his  credit,  and  kept 
the  poor  man  out  of  trouble  ?  So  that  if  the  story  is 
true,  as  I  really  believe  it  is,  either  it  is  not  the  Devil  that 
mak^s  those  bargains,  or  the  Devil  has  not  such  power 
as  we  bestow  on  him,  except  on  special  occasions,  he 
gets  a  permit,  and  is  bid  go,  as  in  the  case  of  Job,  the 
Gadarene  hogs,  and  the  like. 

We  have  another  example  of  a  man's  selling  himself 
to  the  Devil,  that  is  very  remarkable,  and  that  is  in 
the  Bible  too ;  and  even  in  that,  I  do  not  find  what  the 
Devil  did  for  him,  in  payment  of  the  purchase  price. 
The  person  selling  was  Ahab,  of  whom  the  text  says 
expressly,  "  There  was  none  like  him,  who  did  sell 
himself  to  work  wickedness,  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord," 
1  Kings  xxi.  20  and  25.  I  think  it  might  have  been 
rendered,  if  not  translated,  in  spite  of  the  Lord  or  in 
defiance  of  God  ;  for  certainly  that  is  the  meaning  of 
it.  And  now,  allowing  me  to  preach  a  little  upon 
this  text,  my  sermon  shall  be  very  short.  Ahab  sold 
himself;  whom  did  he  sell  himself  to?  I  answer  that 
question  by  a  question ;  Who  would  buy  him?  Who, 
as  we  say,  would  give  anything  for  him?  And  the 
answer  to  that  is  plain  also ;  you  may  judge  of  the 
purchaser  by  the  work  he  was  to  do;  he  that  buys  a 
slave  in  the  market,  buys  him  to  work  for  him-,  and  to 
do  such  business  as  he  has  for  him  to  do.  Ahab  was 
bought  to  work  wickedness,  and  who  would  buy  him 
for  that  but  the  Devil  ? 

I  think  there  is  no  room  to  doubt  but  Ahab  sold 
himself  to  the  Devil ;  the  text  is  plain,  that  he  sold 
himself,  and  the  work  he  was  sold  to  do  points  out 
the  master  that  bought  him;  what  price  he  agreed 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  233 

with  the  Devil  for,  that  indeed  the  text  is  silent  in  ; 
so  we  may  let  it  alone,  nor  is  it  much  to  our  purpose, 
unless  it  be  to  inquire  whether  the  Devil  stood  to  his 
bargain,  or  not,  and  whether  he  paid  the  money  accord- 
ing to  agreement,  or  cheated  him,  as  he  did  the  farmer 
at  Hereford. 

This  buying  and  selling  between  the  Devil  and  us, 
is,  I  must  confess,  an  odd  kind  of  stock-jobbing;  and 
indeed  the  Devil  may  be  said  to  sell  the  bear-skin, 
whatever  he  buys  ;  but  the  strangest  part  is  when  he 
comes  to  demand  the  transfer ;  for,  as  I  hinted  before, 
whether  he  performs,  or  no,  he  expects  his  bargain  to 
a  tittle.  There  is  indeed  some  difficulty  in  resolving 
how,  and  in  what  manner,  payment  is  made.  The 
stories  we  meet  with  in  our  chimney-corner  histories, 
and  which  are  so  many  ways  made  use  of  to  make  the 
Devil  frightful  to  us,  and  our  heirs  forever,  are  gen- 
erally so  foolish  and  ridiculous,  as,  if  true,  or  not  true, 
they  have  nothing  material  in  them,  are  of  no  signifi- 
cation ;  or  else  so  impossible  in  their  nature  that  they 
make  no  impression  upon  anybody  above  twelve  years 
old,  and  under  seventy;  or  else  are  so  tragical  that 
antiquity  has  fabled  them  down  to  our  taste,  that  we 
might  be  able  to  hear  them,  and  repeat  them,  with  less 
horror  than  is  due  to  them. 

This  variety  has  taken  off  our  relish  of  the  thing  in 
general,  and  made  the  trade  of  soul-selling,  like  our 
late  more  eminent  bubbles,  be  taken  to  be  a  cheat,  and 
to  have  a  little  in  it. 

However,  to  speak  a  little  more  gravely  to  it,  I  can- 
not say  but  that,  since  by  the  two  eminent  instances  of 
it  above,  in  Ahab,  and  in  Christ  himself,  the  fact  is 
evidently  ascertained ;  and  that  the  Devil  has  at- 
tempted to  make  such  a  bargain  on  one,  and  actually 
did  make  it  with  the  other ;  the  possibility  of  it  is  not 
to  be  disputed ;  but  then  I  must  explain  the  manner  of 
it  a  little,  and  bring  it  down  nearer  to  our  understand- 
ing, that  it  may  be  more  intelligible  than  it  is ;  for  as 
for  this  selling  of  the  soul,  and  making  a  bargain  to 
give  the  Devil  possession  by  livery  and  seisin,  on 
the  day  appointed,  that  I  cannot  come  into,  by  any 
means :  no  nor  into  the  other  part,  namely,  of  the 
Devil  coming  to  claim  his  bargain,  and  to  demand  the 
20* 


234  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

soul,  according  to  agreement,  and,  upon  default  of  a  fair 
delivery,  taking  it  away  by  violence,  case  and  all,  of 
which  we  have  many  historical  relations,  pretty  cur- 
rent among  us. ;  some  of  which,  for  aught  1  know,  we 
might  have  hoped  had  been  true,  if  we  had  not  been 
sure  they  were  false ;  and  others  we  had  reason  to 
fear  were  false,  because  it  was  impossible  they  should 
be  true. 

The  bargains  of  this  kind,  according  to  the  best  ac- 
counts we  have  of  them,  used  to  consist  of  two  main 
articles,  according  to  the  ordinary  stipulations  in  all 
covenants ;  namely, 

1.  Something  to  be  performed  on  the  Devil's  part, 
buying. 

2.  Something  to  be  performed  on  the  man's  part, 
selling. 

1.  The  Devil's  part.  This  was  generally  some  poor 
trifle ;  for  the  Devil  generally  bought  good  penny- 
worths, and  oftentimes,  like  a  complete  sharper,  agreed 
to  give  what  he  was  not  able  to  procure ;  that  is  to  say, 
would  bargain  for  a  price  he  could  not  pay,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Hereford  man  and  the  cow  ;  for  example, 
1.  Long  life.  This,  though  the  deluded  chapman  has 
often  had  folly  enough  to  contract  for,  the  Devil  never 
had  power  to  make  good  ;  and  we  have  a  famous 
story,  how  true  I  know  not,  of  a  wretch  that  sold  him- 
self to  the  Devil,  on  condition  he,  Satan,  should  assure 
him,  1.  That  he  should  never  want  victuals ;  2.  That 
he  should  never  be  cold ;  3.  That  he  should  always 
come  to  him  when  he  called  him;  and  4.  That  he 
should  let  him  live  one-and-twenty  years,  and  then 
Satan  was  at  liberty  to  have  him ;  that  is,  I  suppose, 
to  take  him  wherever  he  could  find  him. 

It  seems,  the  fellow's  desire  to  be  assured  of  twenty- 
one  years'  life,  was  chiefly,  that,  during  that  time,  he 
might  be  as  wicked  as  he  would,  and  should  yet  be 
sure  not  to  be  hanged ;  nay,  to  be  free  from  all  pun- 
ishment. Upon  this  foot,  it  is  said,  he  commenced 
rogue,  and  committed  a  great  many  robberies,  and 
other  villanous  things.  Now,  it  seems  the  Devil  was 
pretty  true  to  his  bargain,  in  several  of  those  things ; 
particularly,  that  two  or  three  times,  when  the  fellow- 
was  taken  up  for  petty  crimes,  and  called  for  his  old 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  235 

friend,  he  came  and  frighted  the  constables  so,  that 
they  let  the  offender  get  away  from  them.  But  at 
length,  having  done  some  capital  crime,  a  set  of  con- 
stables, or  such-like  officers,  seized  upon  him,  who 
were  not  to  be  frighted  with  the  Devil,  in  what  shape 
soever  he  appeared  ;  so  that  they  carried  him  off,  and 
he  was  committed  to  Newgate,  or  some  other  prison  as 
effectual. 

Nor  could  Satan,  with  all  his  skill,  unlock  his  fetters, 
much  less  the  prison  doors ;  but  he  was  tried,  con- 
victed, and  executed.  The  fellow,  in  his  extremity, 
they  say,  expostulated  with  the  Devil  for  his  bargain, 
the  term  of  twenty-one  years,  it  seems,  not  being  ex- 
pired. But  the  Devil,  it  is  said,  shuffled  with  him, 
told  him  a  good  while  he  would  get  him  out,  bid  him 
have  patience,  and  stay  a  little;  and  thus  led  him  on, 
till  he  came,  as  it  were,  within  sight  of  the  gal- 
lows, that  is  to  say,  within  a  day  or  two  of  his  ex- 
ecution; when  the  Devil  cavilled  upon  his  bargain, 
told  him,  he  agreed  to  let  him  live  twenty-one  years, 
and  he  had  not  hindered  him,  but  that  he  did  not 
covenant  to  cause  him  to  live  that  time ;  that  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  difference  between  doing  and  suf- 
fering ;  that  he  was  to  surfer  him  to  live,  and  that  he 
did;  but  he  could  not  make  him  live,  when  he  had 
brought  himself  to  the  gallows. 

Whether  this  story  were  true  or  not,  for  you  must 
not  expect  we  historians  should  answer  for  the  dis- 
course between  the  Devil  and  his  chaps,  because  we 
were  not  privy  to  the  bargain ;  I  say,  whether  it  was 
true  or  not,  the  inference  is  to  our  purpose  several 
ways. 

1.  It  confirms  what  I  have  said  of  the  knavery  of 
the  Devil,  in  his  dealings ;  and  that,  when  he  has  stock- 
jobbed  with  us,  on  the  best  conditions  he  can  get,  he 
very  seldom  performs  his  bargain. 

2.  It  confirms  what  I  have  likewise  said,  that  the 
Devil's  power  is  limited ;  with  this  addition,  that  he 
not  only  cannot  destroy  the  life  of  man,  but  that  he 
cannot  preserve  it ;  in  short,  he  can  neither  prevent, 
nor  bring  on,  our  destruction. 

•I  may  be  allowed,  I  hope,  for  the  sake  of  the  present 
discourse,  to  suppose,  that  the  Devil  would  have  been 
so  just  to  this  wicked,  though  foolish  creature,  as  to 


236  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

have  saved  him  from  the  gallows  if  he  could;  but  it 
seems,  he  at  last  acknowledged  that  it  was  not  in  his 
power ;  nay,  he  could  not  keep  him  from  being  taken 
and  carried  to  prison,  after  he  was  gotten  into  trie 
hands  of  a  bold  fellow  or  two,  that  were  not  to  be 
scared  with  his  bluster,  as  some  foolish  creatures  had 
been  before. 

And  how  simple,  how  weak,  how  unlike  anything 
of  an  angelic  nature,  was  it.  to  attempt  to  save  the 
poor  wretch,  only  by  little  noises,  and  sham  appear- 
ances, putting  out  the  candles,  rushing  and  jostling  in 
the  dark,  and  the  like !  If  the  Devil  was  that  mighty 
seraph,  which  we  have  heard  of,  if  he  is  a  god  of  this 
world,  a  prince  of  the  air,  a  spirit  able  to  destroy 
cities,  and  make  havoc  in  the  world ;  if  he  can  raise 
tempests  and  storms,  throw  fire  about  the  world,  and 
do  wonderful  things,  as  an  unchained  devil  no  doubt 
could  do;  what  need  all  this  frippery?  and  what 
need  he  try  so  many  ridiculous  ways,  by  the  empti- 
ness, nay,  the  silly  nonsensical  manner,  of  which,  he 
shows  that  he  is  able  to  do  no  better,  and  that  his 
power  is  extinguished?  In  a  word,  he  would  certainly 
act  otherwise,  if  he  could.  Sed  caret  pedibus,  he  wants 
power. 

How  weak  a  thing  is  it  then,  for  any  man  to  expect 
performance  from  the  Devil  ?  If  he  has  not  power  to 
do  mischief,  which  is  his  element,  his  very  nature, 
and,  on  many  accounts,  is  the  very  sum  of  his  desires; 
how  should  he  have  power  to  do  good  ?  how  power  to 
deliver  from  danger,  or  from  death  ?  which  deliver- 
ance would  be  in  itself  a  good,  and  we  know  it  is  not 
in  his  nature  to  do  good  to,  or  for,  any  man. 

In  a  word,  the  Devil  is  strangely  impudent,  to  think 
that  any  man  should  depend  upon  him,  for  the  per- 
formance of  an  agreement  of  any  kind  whatever,  when 
he  knows  himself,  that  he  is  not  able,  if  he  was  honest 
enough,  to  be  as  good  as  his  word. 

Come  we,  next,  to  his  expecting  our  performance  to 
him ;  though  he  is  not  so  just  to  us,  yet,  it  seems,  he 
never  fails  to  come  and  demand  payment  of  us,  at  the 
very  day  appointed.  He  was  but  a  weak  trader  in 
things  of  this  nature,  who,  having  sold  his  soul  to  the 
Devil,  so  our  old  women's  tales  call  the  thing,  and 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  237 

when  the  Devil  came  to  demand  his  bargain,  put  it  off, 
as  a  thing  of  no  force;  for  that  it  was  done  so  long 
ago,  he  thought  he  (the  Devil)  had  forgot  it.  It  was 
a  better  answer,  which,  they  tell  us.  a  Lutheran  divine 
gave  the  Devil,  in  the  name  of  a  poor  wretch,  who  had 
sold  himself  to  the  Devil,  and  who  was  in  a  terrible 
fright  about  his  coming  for  his  bargain,  as  he  might 
well  be  indeed,  if  the  Devil  has  such  a  power,  as 
really  to  come  and  take  it  by  force.  The  story  (if  you 
can  hear  a  serious  one)  is  this. 

The  man  was  in  great  horror  of  mind,  and  the  family 
feared  he  would  destroy  himself;  at  length  they  sent 
for  a  Lutheran  minister,  to  talk  with  him,  and  who, 
after  some  labor  with  him,  got  out  the  truth;  namely, 
that  he  had  sold  himself  to  the  Devil;  and  that  the 
time  was  almost  expired,  when  he  expected  the  Devil 
would  come  and  fetch  him  away ;  and  he  was  sure  he 
would  not  fail  coming  to  the  time,  to  a  minute.  The 
minister  first  endeavored  to  convince  him  of  the  horrid 
crime,  and  to  bring  him  to  a  true  penitence  for  that 
part ;  and  having,  as  he  thought,  made  him  a  sincere 
penitent,  he  then  began  to  encourage  him ;  and  partic- 
ularly desired  of  him,  that  when  the  time  was  come, 
that  the  Devil  would  fetch  him  away,  he,  the  minister, 
should  be  in  the  house  with  him.  Accordingly,  to 
make  the  story  short,  the  time  came ;  the  Devil  came ; 
and  the  minister  was  present,  when  the  Devil  came ; 
what  shape  he  was  in,  the  story  does  not  say;  the 
man  said  he  saw  him,  and  cried  out;  the  minister 
could  not  see  him ;  but  the  man  affirming  he  was  in 
the  room,  the  minister  said  aloud,  "  In  the  name  of 
the  living  God,  Satan,  what  comest  thou  here  for?" 
The  Devil  answered,  "I  come  for  my  own;"  the 
minister  answered,  "He  is  not  thy  own;  for  Jesus 
Christ  has  redeemed  him,  and  in  his  name  I  charge 
thee  to  avoid  and  touch  him  not ;"  at  which,  says  the 
story,  the  Devil  gave  a  furious  stamp,  (with  his  cloven 
foot  I  suppose,)  and  went  away,  and  was  never  known 
to  molest  him  afterward. 

I  have  heard  of  another  person,  that  had  actually 
signed  a  contract  with  the  Devil ;  and.  upon  a  fast 
kept  by  some  protestant  or  Christian  divines,  while 
they  were  praying  for  the  poor  man,  the  Devil  was 


238  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

obliged  to  come,  and  throw  the  contract  in  at  the 
window. 

But  I  vouch  none  of  these  stories ;  there  may  be 
much  in  them,  and  much  use  made  of  them,  even 
whether  exactly  such  in  fact,  as  they  are  related,  or 
no ;  the  best  use  I  can  make  of  them  is  this,  if  any 
wicked,  desperate  wretches  have  made  bargain  and 
sale  with  Satan,  their  only  way  is  to  repent,  if  they 
know  how,  and  that  before  he  comes  to  claim  them ; 
then  batter  him  with  his  own  guns  ;  play  religion 
against  devilism,  and,  perhaps,  they  may  drive  the 
Devil  out  of  their  reach;  at  least,  he  will  not  come  at 
them,  which  is  as  well. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  many  stories  have  we 
handed  about,  of  the  Devil's  really  coming  with  a 
terrible  appearance,  at  the  time  appointed,  and  power- 
fully, or  by  violence,  carrying  away  those,  that  have 
given  themselves  thus  up  to  him  !  nay,  and  sometimes  a 
piece  of  the  house  along  with  them,  as  in  the  famous 
instance  of  Sudbury,  anno  1662.  It  seems  he  comes 
with  rage  and  fury,  upon  such  occasions,  pretending 
he  only  comes  to  take  his  own,  or  as  if  he  had  leave 
given  him  to  come  and  take  his  goods,  as  we  say, 
where  he  could  find  them,  and  would  strike  a  terror 
into  all  that  should  oppose  him. 

The  greatest  part  of  the  terror  we  are  usually  in, 
upon  this  occasion,  is  from  a  supposition,  that  when 
this  hell-fire  contract  is  once  made,  God  allows  the 
Devil  to  come  and  take  the  wicked  creature,  how,  and 
in  what  manner,  he  thinks  fit,  as  being  given  up  to 
him  by  his  own  act  and  deed ;  but.  in  my  opinion, 
there  is  no  divinity  at  all  in  that ;  for,  as  in  our  law, 
we  punish  a  felo  de  se,  or  self-murderer,  because,  as 
the  law  suggests,  he  had  no  right  to  dismiss  his  own 
life ;  that  he  being  a  subject  of  the  commonwealth,  the 
government  claims  the  ward  or  custody  of  him ;  and 
so  it  was  not  murder  only,  but  robbery,  and  is  a  felony 
against  the  state,  robbing  the  king  of  his  liege-man,  as 
it  is  justly  called ;  so  neither  has  any  man  a  right  to 
dispose  of  his  soul,  which  belongs  to  his  Maker  in  pro- 
perty, and  in  right  of  creation.  The  man  then  having 
no  right  to  sell,  Satan  has  no  right  to  buy ;  or,  at  best, 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  239 

he  has  made  a  purchase  without  a  title,  and  conse- 
quently has  no  just  claim  to  the  possession.  ! 

It  is  therefore  a  mistake  to  say,  when  any  of  us 
have  been  so  mad,  to  make  such  a  pretended  contract 
with  the  Devil,  that  God  gives  him  leave  to  take  it  as 
his  due;  it  is  no  such  thing;  the  Devil  has  bought 
what  you  had  no  right  to  sell;  and  therefore,  as  an 
unlawful  oath  is  to  be  repented  of,  and  then  broken  ; 
so  your  business  is,  to  repent  of  the  crime,  and  then 
tell  the  Devil  you  have  better  considered  of  it,  and 
that  you  won't  stand  to  your  bargain,  for  you  had  no 
power  to  sell ;  and,  if  he  pretends  to  violence  after  that, 
I  am  mistaken ;  I  believe  the  Devil  knows  better. 

It  is  true,  our  old  mothers  and  nurses  have  told  us 
other  things;  but  they  only  told  us  what  their  mothers 
and  nurses  told  them ;  and  so  the  tale  has  been  handed 
down,  from  one  generation  of  old  women  to  another ; 
but  we  have  no  vouchers  for  the  fact,  other  than  oral 
tradition,  the  credit  of  which,  I  confess,  goes  but  a 
very  little  way  with  me ;  nor  do  I  believe  it  one  jot  the 
more,  for  all  the  frightful  addenda  which  they  gener- 
ally join  to  the  tale;  for  it  never  wants  a  great  variety 
of  that  kind. 

Thus,  they  tell  us,  the  Devil  carried  away  Dr. 
Faustus,  and  took  a  piece  of  the  wall  of  his  garden 
along  with  them.  Thus,  at  Salisbury,  the  Devil,  as 
it  is  said,  and  publicly  printed,  carried  away  two  fel- 
lows that  had  given  themselves  up  to  him,  and  car- 
ried away  the  roof  of  the  house  with  them,  and  the 
like ;  all  which,  I  believe  my  share  of.  Besides, 
if  these  stories  were  really  true,  they  are  all  against 
the  Devil's  true  interest  ;  Satan  must  be  a  fool, 
which  is  indeed  what  I  never  took  him  to  be,  in  the 
main  ;  this  would  be  the  way  not  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  desperadoes,  who  should  thus  put  themselves 
into  his  hand,  but  to  make  himself  a  terror  to  them ; 
and  this  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  objections  I  have 
against  the  thing ;  for  the  Devil,  I  say,  is  no  fool ;  that 
must  be  acknowledged;  he  knows  his  own  game,  and 
generally  plays  it  sure. 

I  might,  before  1  quit  this  point,  seriously  reflect 
here,  upon  our  beau  monde ;  namely,  the  gay  part  of 
mankind;  especially  those  of  the  times  we  live  in; 


240  THE   MODERN   HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

who  walk  about  in  a  composure  and  tranquillity  inex- 
pressible, and  yet,  as  we  all  know,  must  certainly  have 
all  sold  themselves  to  the  Devil,  ibr  the  power  of  act- 
ing the  foolishest  things  with  the  greater  applause.  It 
is  true,  to  be  a  fool  is  the  most  pleasant  life  in  the 
world,  if  the  fool  has  but  the  particular  felicity,  which 
few  fools  want,  namely,  to  think  themselves  wise. 
The  learned  say,  it  is  the  dignity  and  perfection  of 
fools,  that  they  never  fail  trusting  themselves  ;  they 
believe  themselves  sufficient  and  able  for  everything ; 
and  hence,  their  want  or  waste  of  brains  is  no  griev- 
ance to  them,  but  they  hug  themselves  in  the  satiety 
of  their  own  wit.  But  to  bring  other  people  to  have 
the  same  notion  of  them,  which  they  have  of  them- 
selves, and  to  have  their  apish  and  ridiculous  conduct 
make  the  same  impression  on  the  minds  of  others,  as 
it  does  on  their  own  ;  this  requires  a  general  infatu- 
ation, and  must  either  be  a  judgment  from  heaven,  or 
a  mist  of  hell;  nothing  but  the  Devil  can  make  all 
the  men  of  brains  applaud  a  fool ;  and  can  any  man 
believe,  that  the  Devil  will  do  this  for  nothing  ?  No, 
no,  he  will  be  well  paid  for  it ;  and  I  know  no  other 
way  they  have  to  compound  with  him,  but  this  of  bar- 
gain and  sale. 

It  is  the  same  thing  with  rakes  and  bullies,  as  it  is 
with  fools  and  beaux ;  and  this  brings  me  to  the  sub- 
ject of  buying  and  selling  itself,  and  to  examine  what 
is  understood  by  it  in  the  world ;  what  people  mean  by 
such  and  such  a  man  selling  himself  to  the  Devil.  I 
know  the  common  acceptation  of  it  is,  that  they  make 
some  capitulation  for  some  indulgence  in  wickedness, 
on  conditions  of  safety  and  impunity,  which  the  Devil 
promises  them ;  though,  as  I  said  above,  he  is  a  bite 
in  that  too,  for  he  cannot  perform  the  conditions;  how- 
ever, I  say,  he  promises  boldly,  and  they  believe  him ; 
and  for  this  privilege  in  wickedness,  they  consent  that 
he  shall  come  and  fetch  them  for  his  own,  at  such  or 
such  a  time. 

This  is  the  state  of  the  case,  in  the  general  accepta- 
tion of  it.  I  do  not  say  it  is  really  so  ;  nay,  it  is  even 
an  inconsistency  in  itself;  for,  one  would  think,  they 
need  not  capitulate  with  the  Devil  to  be  so  and  so, 
superlatively  wicked,  and  give  him  such  a  price  for  it, 


THE   MODERN   HISTORY   OF   THE   DEVIL.  241 

seeing,  unless  we  have  a  wrong  notion  of  him,  he  is 
naturally  inclined,  as  well  as  avowedly  willing,  to 
have  all  men  be  as  superlatively  wicked,  as  possibly 
they  can;  must  necessarily  be  always  ready  to  issue 
out  his  licenses  gratis,  as  far  as  his  authority  will  go 
in  the  case ;  and  therefore  I  do  not  see  why  the 
wretches  that  deal  with  him  should  article  with  him 
for  a  price;  but  suppose,  for  argument-sake,  that  it  is 
so,  then  the  next  thing  is,  some  capital  crime  follows 
the  contract;  and  then  the  wretch  is  forsaken,  for  then 
the  Devil  cannot  protect  him,  as  he  promised ;  so  he  is 
trussed  up,  and,  like  Coleman  at  the  gallows,  he  ex- 
claims, that  there  is  no  truth  in  devils. 

It  may  be  true,  however,  that,  under  the  powerful 
guard  and  protection  of  the  Devil,  men  do  sometimes 
go  a  great  way  in  crime,  and  that  perhaps  farther  in 
these  our  days  of  boasted  morals,  than  was  known 
among  our  fathers;  the  only  difference  that  I  meet 
with,  between  the  sons  of  Belial  in  former  days,  and 
those  of  our  ages,  seems  to  be  in  the  Devil's  manage- 
ment, not  in  theirs ;  the  sum  of  which  amounts  to  this, 
that  Satan  seems  to  act  with  more  cunning,  and  they 
with  less ;  for  in  the  former  ages  of  Satan's  dominion, 
he  had  much  business  upon  his  hands ;  all  his  art  and 
engines,  and  engineers  also,  were  kept  fully  employed 
to  wheedle,  allure,  betray  and  circumvent  people,  and 
draw  them  into  crimes,  and  they  found  him,  as  we 
may  say,  a  full  employment ;  I  doubt  not,  he  was 
called  the  tempter  on  that  very  account ;  but  the  case 
seems  quite  altered  now,  the  tables  are  turned ;  then 
the  Devil  tempted  men  to  sin;  but  now.  in  short,  they 
tempt  the  Devil ;  men  push  into  crimes  before  he 
pushes  them  ;  they  outshoot  him  in  his  own  bow,  out- 
run him  on  his  own  ground,  and,  as  we  say  of  some 
hot-spurs  who  ride  post,  they  whip  the  post-boy ;  in  a 
word,  the  Devil  seems  to  have  no  business  now,  but  to 
sit  still  and  look  on. 

This,  I  must  confess,  seems  to  intimate  some  secret 
compact  between  the  Devil  and  them ;  but  then  it 
looks  not  as  if  they  had  contracted  with  the  Devil  for 
leave  to  sin,  but  that  the  Devil  had  contracted  with 
them,  that  they  should  sin  so  and  so,  up  to  such  a 
degree,  and  that  without  giving  him  the  trouble  of  daily 
21 


242  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

solicitation,  private  management,  and  artful  screwing 
up  their  passions,  their  affections,  and  their  most 
retired  faculties,  as  he  was  before  obliged  to  do. 

This  also  appears  more  agreeable  to  the  nature  of 
the  thing;  and  as  it  is  a  most  exquisite  part  of  Satan's 
cunning,  so  it  is  an  undoubted  testimony  of  his  suc- 
cess ;  if  it  was  not  so,  he  could  never  bring  his  king- 
dom to  such  a  height  of  absolute  power  as  he  has  done. 
This  also  solves  several  difficulties  in  the  affair  of  the 
world's  present  way  of  sinning,  which  otherwise  it 
would  be  very  hard  to  understand  ;  as  particularly, 
how  some  eminent  men  of  quality  among  us,  whose 
upper  rooms  are  not  extraordinary  well  furnished  in 
other  cases,  yet  are  so  very  witty  in  their  wickedness, 
that  they  gather  admirers  by  hundreds  and  thousands; 
who,  however  heavy,  lumpish,  slow  and  backward, 
even  by  nature,  and  in  force  of  constitution,  in  better 
things ;  yet,  in  their  race  devil- wards,  they  are  of  a 
sudden  grown  nimble,  light  of  foot,  and  outrun  all 
their  neighbors ;  fellows  that  are  as  empty  of  sense,  as 
beggars  are  of  honesty,  and  as  far  from  brains,  as  a 
fool  is  of  modesty ;  on  a  sudden  you  shall  find  them 
dip  into  polemics,  study  Michael  Servetus,  Socinus, 
and  the  most  learned  of  their  disciples ;  they  shall  rea- 
son against  all  religion,  as  strongly  as  a  philosopher; 
blaspheme  with  such  a  keenness  of  wit,  and  satirize 
God  and  eternity  with  such  a  brightness  of  fancy,  as 
if  the  soul  of  a  Rochester,  or  an  Hobbes  were  trans- 
migrated into  them ;  in  a  little  length  of  time  more 
they  banter  Heaven,  burlesque  the  Trinity,  and  jest 
with  every  sacred  thing ;  and  all  so  sharp,  so  ready, 
and  so  terribly  witty,  as  if  they  were  born  buffoons, 
and  were  singled  out  by  nature  to  be  champions  for 
the  Devil. 

Whence  can  all  this  come  ?  How  is  the  change 
wrought?  Who  but  the  Devil  can  inject  wit  in  spite 
of  natural  dullness,  create  brains,  fill  empty  heads, 
and  supply  the  vacuities  in  the  understanding  ?  And 
will  Satan  do  all  this  for  nothing  ?  No,  no,  he  is  too 
wise  for  that ;  I  can  never  doubt  a  secret  compact,  if 
there  is  such  a  thing  in  nature ;  when  I  see  an  head 
where  there  was  no  head,  sense  in  posse  where  there 
is  no  sense  in  esse,  wit  without  brains,  and  sight 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  243 

without  eyes,  it  is  all  devil-work.  Could  G write 

satires,  that  could  neither  read  Latin,  or  spell  English, 
like  old  Sir  William  Read,  who  wrote  a  book  of  optics, 
which,  when  it  was  printed,  he  did  not  know  which 
was  the  right  side  uppermost,  and  which  the  wrong  1 
Could  this  eminent  uninformed  beau  turn  atheist,  and 
make  wise  speeches  against  that  Being,  which  made 
him  a  fool,  if  the  Devil  had  not  solcl  him  some  wit  in 
exchange  for  that  trifle  of  his,  called  soul  ?  Had  he 
not  bartered  his  inside  with  that  son  of  the  morning, 
to  have  his  tongue  tipped  with  blasphemy,  he  that 
knew  nothing  of  a  God,  but  to  swear  by  him,  could 
never  have  set  up  for  a  wit,  to  burlesque  his  provi- 
dence, and  ridicule  his  government  of  the  world. 

But  the  Devil,  as  he  is  god  of  this  world,  has  one 
particular  advantage,  and  that  is,  that  when  he  has 
work  to  do,  he  very  seldom  wants  instruments.;  with 
this  circumstance  also,  that  the  degeneracy  of  human 
nature  supplies  him ;  as  the  late  King  of  France  said 
of  himself,  when  they  told  him  what  a  calamity  was 
like  to  befall  his  kingdom  by  the  famine.  Well,  says 
the  king,  then  I  shall  not  want  soldiers.  And  it  was 
so,  want  of  bread  supplied  his  army  with  recruits ;  so 
want  of  grace  supplies  the  Devil  with  reprobates  for 
his  work. 

Another  reason  why  I  think  the  Devil  has  made 
more  bargains  of  that  kind  we  speak  of,  in  this  age,  is, 
because  he  seems  to  have  laid  by  his  cloven  foot ;  all 
his  old  emissaries,  the  tools  of  his  trade,  the  engineers 
which  he  employed  in  his  mines,  such  as  witches, 
warlocks,  magicians,  conjurers,  astrologers,  and  all  the 
hellish  train  or  rabble  of  human  devils,  who  did  his 
drudgery  in  former  days,  seem  to  be  out  of  work  ;  I 
shall  give  you  a  fuller  enumeration  of  them  in  the  next 
chapter. 

These,  I  say,  seem  to  be  laid  aside  ;  not  that  his  work 
is  abated,  or  that  his  business  with  mankind,  for  their 
delusion  and  destruction,  is  not  the  same,  or  perhaps 
more  than  ever  ;  but  the  Devil  seems  to  have  changed 
hands ;  the  temper  and  genius  of  mankind  is  altered, 
and  they  are  not  to  be  taken  by  fright  and  horror,  as 
they  were  then.  The  figure  of  those  creatures  was 
alwlys  dismal  and  horrible,  and  that  is  it  which  I 


244  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

mean  by  the  cloven  foot ;  but  now  wit,  beauty  and 
gay  things,  are  the  sum  of  his  craft ;  he  manages  by 
the  soft  and  smooth,  the  fair  and  the  artful,  the  kind  and 
the  cunning;  not  by  the  frightful  and  terrible,  the  ugly 
and  the  odious. 

When  the  Devil,  for  weighty  dispatches, 
Wanted  messengers  cunning  and  bold, 

He  passed  by  the  beautiful  faces,         • 
And  picked  out  the  ugly  and  old. 

Of  these  he  made  warlocks  and  witches, 

To  run  of  his  errands  by  night, 
Till  the  over-wrought  hag-ridden  wretches 

Were  as  fit  as  the  Devil  to  fright. 

But  whoever  has  been  his  adviser, 

As  his  kingdom  increases  in  growth, 
He  now  takes  his  measures  much  wiser, 

And  traffics  with  beauty  and  youth. 

* 

Disguised  in  the  wanton  and  witty, 

He  haunts  both  the  church  and  the  court ; 

And  sometimes  he  visits  the  city, 
Where  all  the  best  Christians  resort. 

Thus  dressed  up  in  full  masquerade, 
He  the  bolder  can  range  up  and  down ; 

For  he  better  can  drive  on  his  trade 
In  any  one's  name,  than  his  own. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Of  the  tools  the  Devil  works  with,  namely,  Witches, 
Wizards  or  Warlocks,  Conjurers,  Magicians,  Di- 
viners, Astrologers,  Interpreters  of  Dreams,  Tellers 
of  Fortunes,  and,  above  all  the  rest,  his  particular 
modern  Privy  Counsellors,  called  Wits  and  Fools. 

THOUGH,  as  I  have  advanced  in  the  foregoing  chap- 
ter, the  Devil  has  very  much  changed  hands  in  his 
modern  management  of  the  world,  and  that  instead  of 
the  rabble,  and  long  train  of  implements  reckoned  up 
above,  he  now  walks  about  in  beans,  beauties,  wits, 
and  fools ;  yet  I  must  not  omit  to  tell  you  that  hetfias 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  245 

not  dismissed  his  former  regiments,  but  like  officers  in 
time  of  peace,  he  keeps  them  all  in  half-pay  ;  or  like 
extraordinary  men  at  the  custom-house,  they  are  kept 
at  a  call,  to  be  ready  to  fill  up  vacancies,  or  to  em- 
ploy when  he  is  more  than  ordinarily  full  of  business  ; 
and  therefore  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  give  some  brief 
account  of  them  from  Satan's  own  memoirs,  their  per- 
formance being  no  inconsiderable  part  of  his  history. 

Nor  will  it  be  an  unprofitable  digression,  to  go  back 
a  little  to  the  primitive  institution  of  all  these  orders, 
for  they  are  very  ancient ;  and  I  assure  you,  it  requires 
great  knowledge  of  antiquity,  to  give  a  particular  of 
their  original.  I  shall  be  very  brief  in  it. 

In  order  then  to  this  inquiry,  you  must  know  that  it 
was  not  for  want  of  servants,  that  Satan  took  this  sort 
of  people  into  his  pay;  he  has,  as  I  have  observed  in 
its  place,  millions  of  diligent  devils  at  his  call,  what- 
ever business,  and  however  difficult,  he  had  for  them 
to  do;  but,  as  I  have  said  above,  that  our  modern 
people  are  forwarder  than  even  the  Devil  himself  can 
desire  them  to  be ;  and  that  they  come  before  they 
are  called,  run  before  they  are  sent,  and  crowd  them- 
selves into  his  service;  so  it  seems  it  was  in  those 
early  days,  when  the  world  was  one  universal  mon- 
archy, under  his  dominion,  as  I  have  at  large  described 
in  its  place. 

In  those  days  the  wickedness  of  the  world  keeping 
a  just  pace  with  their  ignorance,  this  inferior  sort  of 
low-priced  instruments  did  the  Devil's  work  mighty 
well ;  they  drudged  on  his  black-art  so  laboriously, 
and  with  such  good  success,  that  he  found  it  was 
better  to  employ  them  as  tools,  to  delude  and  draw 
in  mankind,  than  to  send  his  invisible  implements 
about,  and  oblige  them  to  take  such  shapes  and  dresses 
as  were  necessary  upon  every  trifling  occasion  which, 
perhaps,  was  more  cost  than  worship,  more  pains  than 
Pay- 
Having  then  a  set  of  these  volunteers  in  his  ser- 
vice, the  true  Devil  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  keep  an 
exact  correspondence  with  them,  and  communicate 
some  needful  powers  to  them  to  make  them  be  and 
do^something  extraordinary,  and  give  them  a  repu- 
tation in  their  business ;  and  these,  in  a  word,  did  a 


246  THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

great  part  of,  nay,  almost  all,  the  Devil's  business  in 
the  world. 

To  this  purpose  gave  he  them  power,  if  we  may  be- 
lieve old  Glanville,  Baxter,  Hicks,  and  other  learned 
consulters  of  oracles,  to  walk  invisible,  to  fly  in  the 
air,  ride  upon  broomsticks,  and  other  wooden  gear, 
to  interpret  dreams,  answer  questions,  betray  secrets, 
to  talk  (gibberish)  the  universal  language,  to  raise 
storms,  swell  winds,  bring  up  spirits,  disturb  the 
dead,  and  torment  the  living,  with  a  thousand  other 
needful  tricks  to  amuse  the  world,  keep  themselves 
in  veneration,  and  carry  on  the  Devil's  empire  in  the 
world. 

The  first  nations  among  whom  these  infernal  prac- 
tices were  found,  were  Chaldeans ;  and  that  I  may  do 
justice  in  earnest,  as  well  as  in  jest,  it  must  be  allowed 
that  the  Chaldeans,  or  those  of  them  so  called,  were  not 
conjurers,  or  magicians,  only  philosophers  and  studiers 
of  nature,  wise,  sober,  and  studious  men,  at  first, 
and  we  have  an  extraordinary  account  of  them;  and, 
if  we  may  believe  some  of  our  best  writers  of  fame. 
Abraham  was  himself  famous  among  them  for  such 
magic,  as  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  expresses  it,  Qui  con- 
templatione  creaturarum  cognovit  Creatorem. 

Now,  granting  this,  it  is  all  to  my  purpose ;  namely, 
That  the  Devil  drew  these  wise  men  in,  to  search  after 
more  knowledge  than  nature  could  instruct  them  in ; 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  being,  at  that  time, 
sunk  very  low,  he  debauched  them  all  with  dreams, 
apparitions,  conjurers,  &c.,  till  he  ruined  the  just 
notions  they  had,  and  made  devils  of  them  all,  like 
himself. 

The  learned  Senensis,  speaking  of  this  Chaldean  kind 
of  learning,  gives  us  an  account  of  five  sorts  of  them. 
You  will  pardon  me  for  being  so  grave  as  to  go  this 
length  back. 

1.  Chascedin,  or  Chaldeans,  properly  so  called,  being 
astronomers. 

2.  Asaphim,  or  magicians;  such  were  Zoroastres, 
and  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor. 

3.  Chatumim,  or  interpreter  of  dreams,  and   hard 
speeches,  enchanters,  &c. 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  247 

4.  Mecasphim,  or  witches,  called,  at  first,  prophets, 
afterwards  Malefici,  or  Venifici,  poisoners. 

5.  Gazarim,  or  Aruspices,  and  diviners,  such  as  di- 
vined by  the  entrails  of  beasts,  the  liver  in  particular  ; 
mentioned  in  Ezekiel,  or,  as  others,  called  augurs. 

Now,  as  to  all  these,  I  suppose  I  may  do  them  no 
wrong,  if  I  say,  however  justifiable  they  were  in  the 
beginning,  the  Devil  got  them  all  into  his  service  at 
last ;  and  that  brings  me  to  my  text  again,  from  which 
the  rest  was  a  digression. 

1.  The  Chascedin,  or  Chaldean  astronomers,  turned 
astrologers,   fortune   tellers,  calculators  of  nativities, 
and  vile  deluders  of  the  people,  as  if  the  wisdom  of 
the  holy  God  was  in  them,  as  Nebuchadnezzar  said  of 
Daniel,  on  that  very  account. 

2.  The  Asaphim,  or   magi,  or  magicians.     Sixtus 
Senensis  says,  they  were  such  as  wrought  by  covenant 
with  devils,  but  turned  to  it  from  their  wisdom,  which 
was  to  study  the  practical  part  of  natural  philosophy, 
working  admirable  effects  by  the  mutual  application 
of  natural  causes. 

3.  The  Chatumirn,  from  being  reasoners,  or  disputers 
upon  difficult  points  in  philosophy,  became  enchant- 
ers and  conjurers.     So, 

4.  The  Mecasphim,  or  prophets,  they  turned  to  be 
sorcerers,  raisers   of  spirits,  such  as  wounded  by  an 
evil  eye,  and   by  bitter  curses,  and  were  afterwards 
famed  for  having  familiar  converse  with  the  Devil,  and 
were  called  witches. 

5.  The  Gazarim,  from  the  bare  observing  of  the  good 
and  bad  omens,  by  the  entrails  of  beasts,  flying  of 
birds,  &c.,  were  turned  to  sacrists  or  priests  of  the  hea- 
then idols  and  sacrifices. 

Thus,  I  say,  first  or  last,  the  Devil  engrossed  all  the 
wise  men  of  the  East,  for  so  they  are  called ;  made 
them  all  his  own ;  and  by  them  he  worked  wonders, 
that  is,  he  filled  the  world  with  lying  wonders,  as  if 
wrought  by  these  men,  when  indeed  it  was  all  his 
own,  from  beginning  to  the  end,  and  set  on  foot  merely 
to  propagate  delusion,  impose  upon  blinded  and  igno- 
rant men ;  the  god  of  this  world  blinded  their  minds, 
and  they  were  led  away  by  the  subtilty  of  the  Devil, 
to  Say  no  worse  of  it,  till  they  became  devils  themselves, 


248  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

as  to  mankind ;  for  they  carried  on  the  Devil's  work 
upon  all  occasions,  and  the  race  of  them  still  continue 
in  other  nations,  and  some  of  them  among  ourselves, 
as  we  shall  see  presently. 

The  Arabians  followed  the  Chaldeans  in  this  study, 
while  it  was  kept  within  its  due  bounds,  and  after  them 
the  Egyptians;  and  among  the  latter  we  find  that  Jan- 
nes  and  Jambres  were  famous  for  their  leading  Pharaoh 
by  their  pretended  magic  performances,  to  reject  the 
real  miracles  of  Moses  ;  and  history  tells  us  of  strange 
pranks  the  wise  men,  the  magicians,  and  the  sooth- 
sayers, played  to  delude  the  people  in  the  most  early 
ages  of  the  world. 

But,  as  I  say,  now,  the  Devil  has  improved  himself, 
so  he  did  then ;  for  the  Grecian  and  Roman  heathen 
rites  coming  on,  they  out-did  all  the  magicians  and 
soothsayers,  by  establishing  the  Devil's  lying  oracles, 
which,  as  a  masterpiece  of  hell,  did  the  Devil  more 
honor,  and  brought  more  homage  to  him,  than  ever  he 
had  before,  or  could  arrive  to  since. 

Again,  as  by  the  setting  up  the  oracles,  all  the  ma- 
gicians and  soothsayers  grew  out  of  credit;  so  at  the 
ceasing  of  those  oracles,  the  Devil  was  fain  to  go  back 
to  the  old  game  again,  and  take  up  with  the  agency  of 
witches,  divinations,  enchantment,  and  conjurings.  as 
I  hinted  before,  answerable  to  the  four  sorts  mentioned 
in  the  story  of  Nebuchadnezzar ;  namely,  magicians, 
astrologers,  the  Chaldeans,  and  the  soothsayers  How 
these  began  to  be  out  of  request,  I  have  mentioned  al- 
ready ;  but  as  the  Devil  has  not  quite  given  them  over, 
only  laid  them  aside  a  little  for  the  present,  we  may 
ventufe  to  ask  what  they  were,  and  what  use  he  made 
of  them  when  he  did  employ  them. 

The  truth  is,  I  think,  as  it  was  a  very  mean  em- 
ployment for  anything  that  wears  an  human  counte- 
nance to  take  up ;  so  I  must  acknowledge,  I  think,  it 
was  a  mean,  low-priced  business  for  Satan  to  take  up 
with ;  below  the  very  Devil ;  below  his  dignity  as  an 
angelic,  though  condemned  creature  ;  below  him  even 
as  a  devil ;  to  go  to  talk  to  a  parcel  of  ugly,  deformed, 
spiteful,  malicious  old  women ;  to  give  them  power  to 
do  mischief,  who  never. had  a  will,  after  they  entered 
into  the  state  of  old-womanhood,  to  do  anything  else. 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  249 

Why  the  Devil  always  chose  the  ugliest  old  women 
he  could  find;  whether  wizardism  made  them  ugly, 
that  were  not  so  before ;  and  whether  the  ugliness,  as 
it  was  a  beauty  in  witchcraft,  did  not  increase  accord- 
ing to  the  meritorious  performance  in  the  black  trade  1 
These  are  all  questions  of  moment  to  be  decided,  (if 
human  learning  can  arrive  to  so  much  perfection,)  in 
ages  to  come. 

Some  say  the  evil  eye,  and  the  wicked  look,  were 
parts  of  the  enchantment ;  and  that  the  witches,  when 
they  were  in  the  height  of  their  business,  had  a  pow- 
erful influence  with  both;  that  by  looking  upon  any 
person  they  could  bewitch  them,  and  make  the  Devil, 
as  the  Scots  express  it,  ride  through  them  booted  and 
spurred;  and  that  hence  came  that  very  significant 
saying,  to  look  like  a  witch. 

The  strange  work  which  the  Devil  has  made  in  the 
world,  by  this  sort  of  his  agents,  called  witches,  is 
such,  and  so  extravagantly  wild,  that  except  our  hope 
that  most  of  those  tales  happen  not  to  be  true,  I  know 
not  how  any  one  could  be  easy  to  live  near  a  widow, 
after  she  was  five-and-fifty. 

All  the  other  sorts  of  emissaries  which  Satan  em- 
ploys, comes  short  of  these.  Ghosts  and  apparitions 
sometimes  come  and  show  themselves,  on  particular 
accounts ;  and  some  of  those  particulars  respect  doing 
justice,  repairing  wrongs,  preventing  mischief;  some- 
times in  matters  very  considerable,  and  on  things  so 
necessary  to  public  benefit,  that  we  are  tempted  to  be- 
lieve they  proceed  from  some  vigilant  spirit,  who 
wishes  us  well ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  these  witches 
are  never  concerned  in  anything  but  mischief;  nay,  if 
what  they  do,  portends  good  to  one,  it  issues  in  hurt  to 
many;  the  whole  tenor  of  their  life,  their  design  in 
general,  is  to  do  mischief;  and  they  are  only  employed 
in  mischief,  and  nothing  else.  How  far  they  are  fur- 
nished with  ability  suitable  to  the  horrid  will  they  are 
vested  with,  remains  to  be  described. 

These  witches,  it  is  said,  are  furnished  with  power 
suitable  to  the  occasion  that  is  before  them,  and  parti- 
cularly that  which  deserves  to  be  considered :  as  pre- 
dictions, and  foretelling  events,  which,  I  insist,  the 
author  of  witchcraft  is  not  accomplished  with  himself, 


250  THE    MODERN    HISTORY 


OF    THE    DEVIL. 


nor  can  he  communicate  it  to  any  other.  How  then 
witches  come  to  be  able  to  foretell  things  to  come, 
which,  it  is  said,  the  Devil  himself  cannot  know,  and 
which,  as  I  have  shown,  it  is  evident  he  does  not  know 
himself,  is  yet  to  be  determined.  That  witches  do 
foretell,  is  certain,  from  the  Witch  of  Endor,  who  fore- 
told things  to  Saul,  which  he  knew  not  before,  name- 
ly, that  he  should  be  slain  in  battle  the  next  day, 
which  accordingly  came  to  pass. 

There  are,  however,  and  notwithstanding  this  par- 
ticular case,  many  instances  wherein  the  Devil  has  not 
been  able  to  foretell  approaching  events,  and  that  in 
things  of  the  utmost  consequence ;  and  he  has  given 
certain  foolish  or  false  answers  in  such  cases.  The 
devil's  priests,  which  were  summoned  in  by  the  prophet 
Elijah,  to  decide  the  dispute  between  God  and  Baal, 
had  the  Devil  been  able  to  have  informed  them  of  it, 
would  certainly  have  received  notice  from  him,  of 
what  was  intended  against  them  by  Elijah ;  that  is  to 
say,  that  they  would  be  all  cut  in  pieces ;  for  Satan 
was  not  such  a  fool  as  not  to  know,  that  Baal  was  a 
nonentity,  a  nothing,  at  best  a  dead  man,  perished  and 
rotting  in  his  grave;  for  Baal  was  Bel,  or  Belus,  an 
ancient  king  of  the  Assyrian  monarchy ;  and  he  could 
no  more  answer,  by  fire,  to  consume  the  sacrifice;  than 
he  could  raise  himself  from  the  dead. 

But  the  priests  of  Baal  were  left  of  their  master  to 
their  just  fate,  namely,  to  be  a  sacrifice  to  the  fury  of 
a  deluded  people.  Hence  I  infer  his  inability;  for  it 
would  have  been  very  unkind  and  ungrateful  in  him 
not  to  have  answered  them,  if  he  had  been  able. 
There  is  another  argument  raised  here  most  justly 
against  the  Devil,  with  relation  to  his  being  under 
restraint,  and  that  of  greater  eminence  than  we  imag- 
ine ;  and  it  is  drawn  from  this  very  passage,  thus :  It 
is  not  to  be  doubted  but  that  Satan,  who  has  much  of 
the  element  put  into  his  hands,  as  prince  of  the  air, 
had  a  power,  or  was  able,  potentially  speaking,  to 
have  answered  Baal's  priests  by  fire ;  fire  being,  in 
virtue  of  his  airy  principality,  a  part  of  his  dominion ; 
but  he  was  certainly  withheld  by  the  Superior  hand, 
which  gave  him  that  dominion,  I  mean,  withheld  for 
the  occasion  only.  So  in  another  case,  it  was  plain 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  251 

that  Balaam,  who  was  one  of  those  sort  of  Chaldeans, 
mentioned  above,  who  dealt  in  divinations  and  en- 
chantments, was  withheld  from  cursing  Israel. 

Some  are  of  opinion,  that  Balaam  was  not  a  witch, 
or  a  dealer  with  the  Devil ;  because  it  is  said  of  him, 
or  rather,  he  says  it  of  himself,  that  he  saw  the  visions 
of  God,  Numb.  xxiv.  16.  "  He  hath  said,  who  heard 
the  words  of  God,  and  knew  the  knowledge  of  the 
most  High,  which  saw  the  vision  of  the  Almighty, 
falling  into  a  trance,  but  having  his  eyes  open."  Hence 
they  allege  he  was  one  of  those  magi,  which  St.  Au- 
gustine speaks  of,  dc  Divinatione,  who,  by  the  study 
of  nature,  and  by  the  contemplation  of  created  beings, 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Creator ;  and  that  Ba- 
laam's fault  was,  that,  being  tempted  by  the  rewards 
and  honors  that  the  king  promised  him,  he  intended  to 
have  cursed  Israel;  but  when  his  eyes  were  opened, 
and  that  ho  saw  they  were  God's  own  people,  he  durst 
not  do  it;  they  will  have  it  therefore,  that,  except  as 
above,  Balaam  was  a  good  man,  or  at  least,  that  he 
had  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  the  fear  of 
that  God  upon  him  ;  and  that  he  honestly  declares  this. 
Nijmb.  xxii.  18.  "  If  Balak  would  give  me  his  house 
full  of  silver  and  gold,  I  cannot  go  beyond  the  word  of 
the  Lord  my  God."  Where,  though  he  is  called  a  false 
prophet  by  some,  he  evidently  owns  God,  and  assumes 
a  property  in  him,  as  other  prophets  did;  my  God, 
and  I  cannot  go  beyond  his  orders.  But  that  which 
gives  me  a  better  opinion  of  Balaam  than  all  this,  is 
his  plain  prophecy  of  Christ,  chapter  xxiv.  17,  where 
he  calls  him  the  Star  of  Jacob  ;  and  declares,  "I  shall 
see  him,  but  not  now  ;  I  shall  behold  him,  but  not  nigh ; 
there  shall  come  a  Star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  Sceptre 
shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the  corners  of 
Moab.  and  destroy  all  the  children  of  Sheth;"  all  which 
express  not  a  knowledge  only,  but  a  faith  in  Christ; 
but  I  have  done  preaching ;  this  is  all  by-the-by ;  I 
return  to  my  business,  which  is,  the  history. 

There  is  another  piece  of  dark  practice  here,  which 
lies  between  Satan  and  his  particular  agents,  and 
which  they  must  give  us  an  answer  to,  when  they 
can,  which,  I  think,  will  not  be  in  haste;  and  that  is, 
about  the  obsequious  devil  submitting  to  be  called  up 


852 


THE   MODERN   HISTORY    OF   THE   DEVIL. 


into  visibility,  whenever  an  old  woman  has  her  hand 
crossed  with  a  white  sixpence,  as  they  call  it.  One 
would  think  that  instead  of  these  vile  things,  called 
witches,  being  sold  to  the  Devil,  the  Devil  was  really 
sold  for  a  slave  to  them ;  for  how  far  soever  Satan's 
residence  is  off  of  this  state  of  life,  they  have  power,  it 
seems,  to  fetch  him  from  home,  and  oblige  him  to  come 
at  their  call. 

I  can  give  little  account  of  this,  only  that  indeed  so 
it  is;  nor  is  the  thing  so  strange  in  itself,  as  the 
methods  to  do  it  are  mean,  foolish,  and  ridiculous;  as 
making  a  circle,  and  dancing  in  it,  pronouncing  such 
and  such  words,  saying  the  Lord's  prayer  backwardT 
and  the  like.  Now  is  this  agreeable  to  the  dignity  of 
the  prince  of  the  air  or  atmosphere,  that  he  should  be 
commanded  forth  with  no  more  pomp  or  ceremony, 
than  that  of  muttering  a  few  words,  such  as  the  old 
witches  and  he  agree  about  ?  or  is  there  something  else 
in  it,  which  none  of  us,  or  themselves,  understand  ? 

Perhaps,  indeed,  he  is  always  with  those  people 
called  witches  and  conjurers,  or,  at  least,  some  of  his 
camp  volant  are  always  present ;  and  so,  upon  the  least 
call  of  the  wizard,  it  is  but  putting  off  the  misty  cloak, 
and  showing  themselves. 

Then  we  have  a  piece  of  mock  pageantry  in  bring- 
ing those  things  called  witches  or  conjurers  to  justice ; 
that  is,  first,  to  know  if  a  woman  be  a  witch,  throw 
her  into  a  pond,  and  if  she  be  a  witch,  she  will  swim, 
and  it  is  not  in  her  own  power  to  prevent  it ;  if  she 
does  all  she  can  to  sink  herself,  it  will  not  do,  she  will 
swim  like  a  cork.  Then,  that  a  rope  will  riot  hang  a 
witch,  but  you  must  get  a  withe,  a  green  osier ;  that 
if  you  nail  an  horseshoe  on  the  sill  of  the  door,  she 
cannot  come  into  the  house,  or  get  out,  if  she  be  in ; 
these,  and  a  thousand  more,  too  simple  to  be  believed, 
are  yet  so  vouched,  so  taken  for  granted,  and  so  uni- 
versally received  for  truth,  that  there  is  no  resisting 
them  without  being  thought  atheistical. 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF   THE    DEVIL.  253 


CHAPTER    X. 

Of  the  various  methods  the  Devil  takes  to  converse  with 
mankind. 

HAVING  spoken  something  of  persons,  and  particular- 
ly of  such  as  the  Devil  thinks  fit  to  employ  in  his 
affairs  in  the  world,  it  comes  next  of  course  to  say 
something  of  the  manner  how  he  communicates  his 
mind  to  them,  and,  by  them,  to  the  rest  of  his  acquaint- 
ance in  the  world. 

I  take  the  Devil  to  be  under  great  difficulties  in  his 
affairs  on  his  part,  especially  occasioned  by  the  bounds 
which  are  set  him,  or  which  policy  obliges  him  to  set 
to  himself,  in  his  access  to  the  conversing  with  man- 
kind ;  it  is  evident  he  is  not  permitted  to  fall  upon  them 
with  force  and  arms,  that  is  to  say,  to  muster  up  his 
infernal  troops,  and  attack  them  with  fire  and  sword ; 
if  he  was  loose,  to  act  in  this  manner,  as  he  was  able, 
by  his  own  seraphic  power  to  have  destroyed  the  whole 
race,  and  even  the  earth  they  dwelt  upon,  so  he  would 
certainly,  and  long  ago,  have  effectually  done  it;  his 
particular  interests  and  inclinations  are  well  enough 
known. 

But,  in  the  next  place,  as  he  is  thus  restrained  from 
violence,  so  prudentials  restrain  him,  in  all  his  other 
actings  with  mankind ;  and,  being  confined  to  strata- 
gem, and  soft,  still  methods,  such  as  persuasion,  al- 
lurement, feeding  the  appetite,  prompting,  and  then 
gratifying  corrupt  desires,  and  the  like ;  he  finds  it  for 
his  purpose  not  to  appear  in  person,  except  very  rare- 
ly, and  then  in  disguise:  but  to  act  all  the  rest  in  the 
dark,  under  the  vizor  of  art  and  craft,  making  use  of 
persons  and  methods  concealed,  or  at  least  not  fully 
understood  or  discovered. 

As  to  the  persons  whom  he  employs,  I  have  taken 
some  pains,  you  see,  to  discover  some  of  them ;  but  the 
methods  he  uses  with  them,  either  to  inform  and  in- 
struct, and  give  orders  to  them,  or  to  converse  with 
other  people  by  them,  these  are  very  particular,  an<J 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

deserve  some  place  in  our  memoirs;  particularly  as 
they  may  serve  to  remove  some  of  our  mistakes,  and 
to  take  off  some  of  the  frightful  ideas  we  are  apt  to 
entertain,  in  prejudice  of  this  great  manager ;  as  if  he 
was  no  more  to  be  matched  in  his  politics,  than  he 
-would  be  to  be  matched  in  his  power,  if  it  was  let 
loose ;  which  is  so  much  a  mistake,  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, we  read  of  several  people  that  have  abused  and 
cheated  the  Devil,  a  thing,  which  I  cannot  sayr  is  very 
honest  nor  just,  notwithstanding  the  old  Latin  proverb, 
Fatter e  fallentem  non  est  fraus,  (which  men  construe, 
or  rather  render,  by  way  of  banter  upon  Satan,  It  is  no 
sin  to  cheat  the  Devil ;)  which,  for  all  that,  upon  the 
whole,  I  deny ;  and  allege,  that  let  the  Devil  act  how 
he  will  by  us,  we  ought  to  deal  fairly  by  him. 

But  to  come  to  the  business,  without  circumlocu- 
tions ;  1  am  to  inquire  how  Satan  issues  out  his  orders, 
gives  his  instructions,  and  fully  delivers  his  mind  to 
his  emissaries,  of  whom  I  mentioned  some  in  the  title 
to  chapter  IX.  In  order  to  this,  you  must  form  an 
idea  of  the  Devil  sitting  in  great  state,  in  open  cam- 
paign, with  all  his  legions  about  him,  in  the  height  of 
the  atmosphere;  or,  if  you  will,  at  a  certain  distance 
from  the  atmosphere,  and  above  it,  that  the  plan  of  his 
encampment  might  not  be  hurried  round  its  own  axis, 
with  the  earth's  diurnal  motion,  which  might  be  some 
disturbance  to  him. 

By  this  fixed  situation,  the  earth  performing  its  rota- 
tion, he  has  every  part  and  parcel  of  it  brought  to  a 
direct  opposition  to  him,  and  consequently  to  his  view 
once  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  last  time  I  was  there, 
if  I  remember  right,  he  had  this  quarter  of  the  world, 
which  we  call  Christendom,  just  under  his  eye ;  and 
the  motion  is  not  so  swift,  but  that  his  piercing  optics 
can  take  a  strict  view  of  it  en  passant ;  for  the  circum- 
ference of  it  being  but  twenty-one  thousand  miles,  and 
its  circular  motion  being  full  twenty-four  hours  per- 
forming, he  has  something  more  than  an  hour  to  view 
every  thousand  miles,  which,  to  his  supernatural  pen- 
etration, is  not  worth  naming. 

As  he  takes  thus  a  daily  view  of  all  the  circle,  and 
an  hourly  view  of  the  parts,  he  is  fully  master  of  all 
transactions,  at  least  such  as  are  done  above  board,  by 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  255 

all  mankind ;  and  then  he  despatches  his  emissarias, 
or  aid-de-camps,  to  every  part,  with  his  orders  and 
instructions.  Now  these  emissaries,  you  are  to  under- 
stand, are  not  the  witches  and  diviners,  whom  I  spoke 
of  above,  for  I  call  them  also  emissaries ;  but  they  are 
all  devils,  or  (as  you  know  they  are  called)  devil's 
angels ;  and  these  may,  perhaps,  come  and  converse 
personally  with  the  sub-emissaries  I  mentioned,  to  be 
ready  for  their  support  and  assistance,  on  all  occasions 
of  business.  These  are  those  devils  which  the  witches 
are  said  to  raise ;  for  we  can  hardly  suppose  the  mas- 
ter Devil  comes  himself,  at  the  summons  of  every  ugly 
old  woman. 

These  run  about  into  every  nook  and  corner,  wher- 
ever Satan's  business  calls  them,  and  are  never  want- 
ing to  him  ;  but  are  the  most  diligent  devils  imaginable ; 
like  the  Turkish  chiaux,  they  no  sooner  receive  their 
errand,  but  they  execute  it  with  the  utmost  alacrity ; 
and  as  to  their  speed,  it  may  be  truly  written  as  a 
motto,  upon  the  head  of  every  individual  devil, 

Non  indiget  calcaribus. 

These  are  those,  whom,  they  tell  us,  our  witches, 
sorcerers,  wizards,  and  such  sorts  of  folks,  converse 
freely  with,  and  are  therefore  called  their  familiars; 
and,  as  they  tell  us,  come  to  them  in  human  shapes, 
talk  to  them  with  articulate  plain  voices,  as  if  men ; 
and  that  yet  the  said  witches,  &c.  know  them  to  be 
devils. 

History  has  not  yet  enlightened  us  in  this  part  of 
useful  knowledge,  or  at  least  not  sufficiently  for  a 
description  of  the  persons  or  habits  of  these  sorts  of 
appearances ;  as  what  shapes  they  take  up,  what  lan- 
guage they  speak,  and  what  particular  works  they 
perform;  so  we  must  refer  it  to  farther  inquiry;  but  if 
we  may  credit  history,  we  are  told  many  famous  sto- 
ries of  these  appearances;  for  example,  the  famous 
Mother  Laldand,  who  was  burnt  for  a  witch  at  Ips- 
wich, A.  D.  1646,  confessed,  at  the  time  of  her  execu- 
tion, or  a  little  before  it,  that  she  had  frequent  conver- 
sation with  the  Devil  himself;  that  she  being  very  poor, 
and,  withal,  of  a  devilish  passionate,  cruel,  and  re- 


256  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

vengeful  disposition,  before,  used  to  wish  she  had  it  in 
her  power  to  do  such  and  such  mischievous  things  to 
some  that  she  hated ;  and  that  the  Devil  himself,  who, 
it  seems,  knew  her  temper,  came  to  her  one  night,  as 
she  lay  in  her  bed,  and  was  between  sleeping  and 
waking,  and,  speaking  in  a  deep  hollow  voice,  told 
her,  if  she  would  serve  him  in  some  things  he  would 
employ  her  to  do,  she  should  have  her  will  of  all  her 
enemies,  and  should  want  for  nothing.  That  she  was 
much  afraid  at  first;  but  that  he,  soliciting  her  very 
often,  bade  her  not  be  afraid  of  him,  and  still  urged 
her  to  yield  ;  and,  as  she  says,  struck  his  claw  into 
her  hand,  and  though  it  did  not  hurt  her,  made  it  bleed, 
and  with  the  blood  wrote  the  covenant ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  bargain  between  them.  Being  asked  what  was  in 
it,  and  whether  he  required  her  to  curse  or  deny  God 
or  Christ  ?  she  said  no. 

N.  B.  I  do  not  find  she  told  them,  whether  the 
Devil  wrote  it  with  a  pen,  or  whether  on  paper,  or 
parchment,  nor  whether  she  signed  it  or  no;  but  it 
seems  he  carried  it  away  with  him.  I  suppose,  if 
Satan's  register  were  examined,  it  might  be  found 
among  the  archives  of  hell,  the  rolls  of  his  acta  publi- 
ca ;  and,  when  his  historiographer  royal  publishes 
them,  we  may  look  for  it  among  them. 

Then  he  furnished  her  with  three  devils,  to  wait 
upon  her  (I  suppose  ;)  for  she  confessed  they  were  to 
be  employed  in  her  service  ;  they  attended  in  the 
shapes  of  two  little  dogs,  and  a  mole.  The  first  she 
bewitched  was  her  own  husband,  by  which  he  lay 
awhile  in  great  misery,  and  died;  then  she  sent  to  one 
Captain  Beal,  and  burnt  a  new  ship  of  his,  just  built, 
which  had  never  been  at  sea ;  these,  and  many  other 
horrid  things,  she  did  and  confessed  ;  and  having  been 
twenty  years  a  witch,  at  last  the  Devil  left  her,  and 
she  was  burnt  as  she  deserved. 

That  some  extraordinary  occasions  may  bring  these 
agents  of  the  Devil,  nay,  sometimes  the  Devil  himself, 
to  assume  human  shapes,  and  appear  to  other  people, 
we  cannot  doubt ;  he  did  thus  in  the  case  of  our  Saviour 
as  a  tempter,  and  some  think  he  did  so  to  Manasses  as 
a  familiar,  whom  the  Scripture  charges  with  sorcery, 
and  having  a  familiar  or  devil ;  fame  tells  us,  that  St. 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  257 

Dunstan  frequently  conversed  with  him,  and  finally, 
took  him  by  the  nose ;  arid  so  of  others. 

But,  in  these  modern  ages  of  the  world,  he  finds  it 
much  more  to  his  purpose  to  work  under  ground,  as  I 
have  observed,  and  to  keep  upon  the  reserve ;  so  that 
we  have  no  authentic  accounts  of  his  personal  appear- 
ance, but  what  are  very  ancient,  or  very  remote  from 
our  faith,  as  well  as  our  inquiry. 

It  seems  to  be  a  question,  that  would  bear  some  de- 
bating, whether  all  apparitions  are  not  devils,  or  from 
the  Devil;  but  there  being  so  many  of  those  appari- 
tions, which  we  call  spirits,  which  really  assume 
shapes,  and  make  appearances,  in  the  world,  upon 
such  accounts  as,  we  know,  Satan  himself  scorns  to  be 
employed  in,  that  I  must  dismiss  the  question  in  favor 
of  the  Devil;  assuring  them,  that  as  he  never  wil- 
lingly did  any  good  in  his  life,  so  he  would  be  far  from 
giving  himself  the  trouble  of  setting  one  foot  into  the 
world,  on  such  an  errand ;  and,  for  that  reason,  we 
may  be  assured  those  certain  apparitions,  which  we 
are  told  came  to  detect  a  murderer  in  Gloucestershire, 
and  others,  who  appeared  to  prevent  the  ruining  an 
orphan,  for  want  of  finding  a  deed  that  was  not  lost, 
was  certainly  some  other  power  equally  concerned,  and 
not  the  Devil. 

On  the  other  hand,  neither  will  it  follow,  that  Satan 
never  appears  in  human  shape;  for  though  every  ap- 
parition may  not  be  the  Devil,  yet  it  does  not  follow, 
that  the  Devil  never  makes  an  apparition.  All  I  shall 
say  to  it  is,  as  I  have  mentioned  before,  that,  generally 
speaking,  the  Devil  finds  it  more  for  his  purpose,  to 
have  his  interest  in  the  world  propagated  another  way ; 
namely,  in  private ;  and  his  personal  appearances  are 
reserved  for  things  only  of  extraordinary  consequence, 
and,  as  I  may  say,  of  evident  necessity,  where  his 
honor  is  concerned,  and  where  his  interest  could  be 
carried  on  no  other  way ;  not  forgetting  to  take  notice, 
that  this  is  very  seldom. 

It  remains  to  inquire,  what  then  those  things  are, 
which  we  make  so  much  stir  about,  and  which  are 
called  apparitions,  or  spirits  assuming  human  shapes, 
and  showing  themselves  to  people  on  particular  occa- 
sions ?  Whether  they  are  evil  spirits,  or  good  ?  And 
22* 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE   DEVIL. 

though,  indeed,  this  is  out  of  my  way  at  this  time,  and 
does  not  relate  at  all  to  the  Devil's  history,  yet  I 
thought  it  not  amiss  to  mention  it :  1.  Because,  as  I 
have  said,  I  do  not  wholly  exclude  Satan  from  all 
concern  in  such  things ;  and,  2.  Because  I  shall  dis- 
miss the  question  with  so  very  short  an  answer  ; 
namely,  that  we  may  determine  which  are,  and  which 
are  not,  the  Devil's,  by  the  errand  they  come  upon ; 
every  one  to  his  own  business ;  if  it  comes  of  a  good 
errand,  you  may  certainly  acquit  the  Devil  of  it,  con- 
clude him  innocent,  and  that  he  has  no  hand  in  it;  if 
he  comes  of  a  wicked  and  devilish  errand,  you  may 
even  take  him  up  upon  suspicion,  it  is  ten  to  one  but 
you  find  him  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

Next  to  apparitions,  we  find  mankind  disturbed  by 
abundance  of  little  odd  reserved  ways,  which  the  Devil 
is  shrewdly  suspected  of  having  an  hand  in,  such  as 
dreams,  noises,  voices,  &c.  smells  of  brimstone,  can- 
dles burning  blue,  and  the  like. 

As  to  dreams,  I  have  nothing  to  say  in  Satan's  pre- 
judice at  all  there;  I  make  no  question  but  he  deals 
very  much  in  that  kind  of  intelligence  ;  and  why 
should  he  not  ?  We  know  heaven  itself  formerly  con- 
versed very  often  with  the  greatest  of  men,  by  the 
same  method;  arid  the  Devil  is  known  to  mimic  the 
methods,  as  well  as  the  actions  of  his  Maker ;  whether 
heaven  has  not  quite  left  off  that  way  of  working,  we 
are  not  certain;  but  we  pretty  well  know  the  Devil 
has  not  left  it ;  and  I  believe  some  instances  may  be 
given  where  his  worship  has  been  really  seen  and 
talked  to  in  sleep,  as  much  as  if  the  person  had  been 
awake  with  his  eyes  open. 

These  are  to  be  distinguished  too,  pretty  much  by 
the  goodness  or  badness  of  the  subject.  How  often 
have  men  committed  murder,  robbery,  and  adultery, 
in  a  dream ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  except  an  extra- 
ordinary agitation  of  the  soul,  and  expressed  by  ex- 
traordinary noises  in  the  sleep,  by  violent  sweating, 
and  other  such  ways,  the  head  has  never  been  removed 
from  the  pillow,  or  the  body  so  much  as  turned  in  the 
bed! 

Whether  in  such  cases,  the  soul,  with  all  the  passions 
and  affections,  being  agitated,  and  giving  their  full 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  259 

assent  to  the  facts,  of  what  kind  soever,  the  man 
is  not  as  guilty  as  if  the  sins  so  dreamed,  of  his  com- 
mitting had  been  actually  com  milted  ?  though  it  be  no 
doubt  to  me,  but  that  it  is  so ;  yet,  as  it  is  foreign  to 
the  present  affair,  and  not  at  all  relating  to  the  Devil's 
history,  I  leave  it  to  the  reverend  doctors  of  the  church, 
as  properly  belonging  to  them  to  decide. 

By  this  method,  the  Devil  injects  powerful  incen- 
tives to  crimes;  provokes  avarice,  by  laying  a  great 
quantity  of  gold  in  your  view,  and  nobody  present, 
giving  you  an  opportunity  to  steal  it,  or  some  of  it,  at 
the  same  time,  perhaps,  knowing  your  circumstances 
to  be  such,  as  that  you  are  at  that  time  in  a  great  want 
of  the  money. 

I  knew  a  tradesman,  and  in  great  distress  for  money 
in  his  business,  dreamed  that  he  was  walking  all  alone 
in  a  great  wood,  and  that  he  met  a  little  child  with  a 
bag  of  gold  in  its  hand,  and  a  fine  necklace  of  diamonds 
on  its  neck.  Upon  the  sight,  his  wants  presently  dic- 
tated to  him  to  rob  the  child  ;  the  little  innocent  crea- 
ture (just  so  he  dreamed)  riot  being  able  to  resist;  or 
to  tell  who  it  was.  Accordingly  he  consented  to  take 
the  money  from  the  child,  and  then  to  take  the  diamond 
necklace  from  it  too,  and  did  so. 

But  the  Devil,  (a  full  testimony,  as  I  told  him,  that 
it  was  the  Devil,)  not  contented  with  that,  hinted  to 
him,  that  perhaps  the  child  might,  some  time  or  other, 
know  him  and  single  him  out,  by  crying  out  or  point- 
ing, or  some  such  thing,  especially  if  he  was  suspected, 
and  showed  to  it ;  and  therefore  it  would  be  better  for 
him  to  kill  the  child,  prompting  him  to  kill  it  for  his 
own  safety,  and  that  he  need  do  no  more  but  twist  the 
neck  of  it  a  little,  or  crush  it  with  his  knee ;  he 
told  me  he  stood  debating  with  himself,  whether  he 
should  do  so  or  not ;  but  that  in  that  instant,  his  heart 
struck  him  with  the  word  murder,  and  he  enter- 
tained an  horror  of  it,  refused  to  do  it,  and  immedi- 
ately waked. 

He  told  me,  that  when  he  waked,  he  found  himself 
in  so  violent  a  sweat,  as  he  never  had  known  the  tike ; 
that  his  pulse  beat  with  that  heat  and  rage,  that  it  was 
like  a  palpitation  of  the  heart  to  him ;  and  that  the 
agitation  of  his  spirits  was  such,  that  he  was  not  fully 


260  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL. 

composed  in  some  hours :  though  the  satisfaction  and 
joy  that  attended  him,  when  he  found  it  was  but  a 
dream,  assisted  much  to  return  his  spirits  to  their  due 
temperament. 

It  is  neither  my  business  or  inclination  to  turn  di- 
vine here,  nor  is  the  age  I  write  to  sufficiently  grave  to 
relish  a  sermon,  if  I  was  disposed  to  preach,  though 
they  must  allow  the  subject  would  very  well  bear  it ; 
but  I  shall  only  ask  them,  if  they  think  this  is  not  the 
Devil,  what  they  think  it  is?  If  they  believe  it  is  the 
Devil,  they  will  act  accordingly,  I  hope,  or  let  it  alone, 
as  Satan  and  they  can  agree  about  it. 

I  should  not  oblige  the  Devil  over-much,  whatever 
I  might  do  to  those  that  read  it,  if  I  should  enter  here 
upon  a  debate  of  interests ;  namely,  to  inquire  whether 
the  Devil  has  not  a  vast  advantage  upon  mankind  this 
way,  and  whether  it  is  not  much  his  interest  to  pre- 
serve it.  And  if  I  prove  the  affirmative,  I  leave  it  to 
you  to  inquire,  whose  interest  it  is  to  disappoint  and 
supplant  him. 

In  short,  I  take  dreams  to  be  the  second  best  of  the 
advantages  the  Devil  has  over  mankind ;  the  first,  I 
suppose,  you  all  know,  namely,  the  treachery  of  the 
garrison  within  ;  by  dreams  he  may  be  said  to  get  into 
the  inside  of  us,  without  opposition ;  here  he  opens  and 
locks  without  a  key,  and  like  an  enemy  laying  siege 
to  a  fortified  city,  reason  and  nature,  the  governor  of 
the  city,  keep  him  out  by  day,  and  keep  the  garrison 
true  to  their  duty;  but  in  the  dark  he  gets  in,  and  par- 
leys with  the  garrison  (the  affections  and  passions ;) 
debauches  their  loyalty,  stirring  up  them  to  disloyalty 
and  rebellion ;  so  they  betray  their  trust,  revolt,  mu- 
tiny, and  go  over  to  the  besieger. 

Thus  he  manages  his  interest,  I  say,  and  insinuates 
himself  into  the  inside  of  us,  without  our  consent ;  nay, 
without  our  knowledge;  for,  whatever  speculation  may 
do,  it  is  evident  demonstration  does  not  assist  us  to  dis- 
cover, which  way  he  gets  access  to  the  soul,  while  the 
organ  tied  up,  and  dozed  with  sleep,  has  locked  it  up 
from  action.  That  it  is  so,  is  clear ;  but  how  he  does 
it,  is  a  secret,  which  I  do  not  find  the  ancients  or 
moderns  have  yet  made  a  discovery  of. 

That  devil  of  a  creature,  mother  Lakland,  whose 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  261 

story  I  mentioned  above,  acknowledged,  that  the  first 
time  the  Devil  attempted  to  draw  her  in,  to  be  a  witch, 
was  in  a  dream;  and  even  when  she  consented,  she 
said,  she  was  between  sleeping  and  waking ;  that  is, 
she  did  not  know  whether  she  was  awake  or  asleep ; 
and  the  cunning  Devil,  it  seems,  was  satisfied  with  her 
assent  given  so,  when  she  was  asleep,  or  neither  asleep 
nor  awake ;  so  taking  the  advantage  of  her  incapacity 
to  act  rationally. 

The  stories  of  her  bewitching  several  people,  and  the 
manner  in  which  they  died,  are  so  formidable  and  ex- 
travagant, that  I  care  not  to  put  any  one's  faith  to 
the  stretch  about  them ;  though  published  by  authority, 
and  testified  by  abundance  of  witnesses;  but  this  is 
recorded  in  particular,  and  to  my  purpose ;  whether 
from  her  own  mouth  or  not,  I  do  not  say ;  namely,  the 
description  of  a  witch,  and  the  difference  between 
witches,  and  those  other  Satan's  acquaintance  who  act 
in  his  name. 

1.  They  have  consulted   and  covenanted  with   a 
spirit,  or  devil. 

2.  They  have  a  deputy  devil ;  sometimes  several,  to 
serve  and  assist  them. 

3.  These  they  employ  as  they  please ;  call  them  by 
name;  and  command  their  appearance  in  whatever 
shape  they  think  fit. 

4.  They  send  them  abroad  to,  or  into,  the  persons 
whom  they  design  to  bewitch ;  whom  they  always  tor- 
ment, and  often  murder  them,  as  mother  Lakland  did 
several. 

As  to  the  difference  between  the  several  devils  that 
appear,  it  relates  to  the  office  of  the  persons  who  em- 
ploy them ;  as  conjurers,  who  seem  to  command  the 
particular  devil  that  waits  upon  them  with  more  au- 
thority; and  raise  them,  and  lay  them,  at  pleasure; 
drawing  circles,  casting  figures,  and  the  like ;  but  the 
witch,  in  a  more  familiar  manner,  whispers  with  the 
Devil ;  keeps  the  Devil  in  a  bag,  or  a  sack,  sometimes 
in  her  pocket;  and  the  like;  and,  like  Mr.  Faux, 
shows  tricks  with  him. 

But  all  these  kinds  deal  much  in  dreams ;  talk  with 
the  Devil  in  their  sleep ;  arid  make  other  people  talk 
with  him  in  their  sleep  too ;  and  it  is  on  this  occasion 


262  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

I  mention  it  here;  in  short,  the  Devil  may  well  take 
this  opportunity  with  mankind,  for  not  half  the  world 
that  came  into  his  measures  would  comply,  if  they 
were  awake ;  but  of  that  hereafter. 

And  yet  his  thus  insinuating  himself  by  dream,  does 
not  seem  sufficient,  in  my  opinion,  to  answer  the 
Devil's  end,  and  to  carry  on  his  business ;  and  there- 
fore we  must  be  forced  to  allow  him  a  kind  of  actual 
possession,  in  particular  cases,  and  that  in  the  souls  of 
some  people,  by  different  methods  from  others.  Luther 
is  of  the  opinion  that  the  Devil  gets  a  familiarity  with 
some  souls  just  at,  or  rather  before,  their  being  em- 
bodied ;  as  to  the  manner  and  method  how  he  gets  in, 
that  is  another  question,  and  may  be  spoken  of  by 
itself;  besides,  why  may  not  he,  that  at  Satan's  re- 
quest to  enter  into  the  herd  of  swine,  said,  Go,  give 
the  same  commission  to  possess  a  sort  of  creatures  so 
many  degrees  below  the  -dignity  of  the  Gadarenian 
swine,  and  open  the  door  too.  But  as  for  that,  when 
our  Lord  said,  Go,  the  Devil  never  inquired  which 
way  he  should  get  in. 

When  then  I  see  nations,  or  indeed  herds  of  nations, 
set  on  fire  of  hell,  and,  as  I  may  say,  inflamed  by  the 
Devil;  when  I  see  towns,  parties,  factions,  and  rab- 
bles of  people,  visibly  possessed ,  it  is  enough  to  me 
that  the  great  master  of  the  Devils  has  said  to  him, 
Go ;  there  is  no  need  to  inquire  which  way  he  finds 
open,  or  at  what  postern-gate  he  gets  in ;  as  to  his 
appearing,  it  is  plain  he  often  gets  in  without  ap- 
pearing ;  and  therefore  the  question  about  his  appear- 
ing still  remains  a  doubt,  and  is  not  very  easy  to  be 
resolved. 

In  the  scripture  we  have  some  light  into  it,  and  that 
is  all  the  help  I  find  from  antiquity ;  and  it  goes  a  great 
way  to  solve  the  phenomena  of  Satan's  appearing. 
What  I  mean  by  the  scripture  giving  some  light  to  it, 
is  this.  It  is  said  in  several  places,  and  of  several  per- 
sons, God  came  to  them  in  a  dream.  Gen.  xx.  3.  "  God 
came  to  Abimelech  in  a  dream  by  night."  Gen.  xxxi. 
34.  "And  came  to  Laban  the  Syrian,  in  a  dream." 
Matt.  ii.  13.  "The  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  to 
Joseph  in  a  dream."  Short  comments  are  sufficient  to 
plain  texts.  Applying  this  to  my  friend,  when  he 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  263 

wanted  to  be  satisfied  about  the  how.  relating  to  his 
dream ;  namely,  how  he  should  come  to  dream  such 
wicked  things'?  1  told  him,  in  short,  the  case  was 
plain,  the  Devil  came  to  him  in  a  dream  by  night. 
How,  and  in  what  manner,  he  formed  the  wicked 
representations,  and  spread  debauched  appearances 
before  his  fancy,  by  real  whispers  and  voice,  accord- 
ing to  Milton,  or  by  what  other  methods,  the  learned 
are  not  arrived  to  any  certainty  about  it. 

This  leads  me  necessarily  to  inquire,  whether  the 
Devil,  or  some  of  his  agents  are  not  always  in  our 
company,  whether  they  make  any  visible  appearances 
or  no?  For  my  part,  I  make  no  question  of  it ;  how 
else  could  he  come  at  the  knowledge  of  what  we  do? 
for  as  I  can  allow  him  no  prescience  at  all,  as  for  many 
reasons  I  have  observed  already,  he  must  be  able  to 
see  and  know  us,  and  what  we  are  about,  when  we 
know  nothing  of  him,  or  else  he  could  know  nothing 
of  us  and  our  affairs,  which  yet  we  find  otherwise ; 
and  this  gives  him  infinite  advantage  to  influence  our 
actions,  to  judge  of  our  inclinations,  and  to  bring  our 
passions  to  clash  with  our  reason,  as  they  often  do,  and 
get  the  better  of  it  too. 

All  this  he  obtains  by  his  being  able  to  walk  about 
invisible,  and  see  when  he  is  not  seen,  of  which  I  have 
spoken  already ;  hence  that  most  wise  and  solid  sug- 
gestion, that  when  the  candles  burn  blue,  the  devil  is 
in  the  room ;  which  great  secret  in  nature,  that  you 
may  be  more  fully  convinced  of  its  imaginary  reality, 
I  must  tell  you  the  following  story,  which  I  saw  in  a 
letter  directed  to  a  particular  friend  ;  take  it  word  for 
word  as  in  the  letter,  because  I  do  not  make  myself 
accountable  for  the  facts,  but  take  them  ad  referen- 
dum. 

SIR, — We  had  one  day,  very  early  in  the  morning, 
and  for  the  most  part  of  the  day,  a  great  deal  of  rain, 
with  an  high  wind,  and  the  clouds  very  thick  and  dark 
all  day. 

In  the  evening,  the  cloudy  thick  weather  continued, 
though  not  the  rain;  when  being  at  a  friend's  house  in 
Lane,  London,  and  several  ladies,  and  some  gen- 
tlemen, in  the  room,  besides  two  or  three  servants,  (for 
we  had  been  eating,)  the  following  interlude  happened 


264  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

for  our  entertainment.  When  the  cloth  was  taken 
away,  two  large  candles  were  brought  upon  the  table, 
and  placed  there  with  some  bottles  and  glasses  for  the 
gentlemen,  who,  it  seems,  were  intending  to  drink,  and 
be  very  merry  ;  two  large  wax  candles  were  also  set  on 
another  table,  the  ladies  being  going  to  cards ;  also 
there  were  two  large  candles  in  sconces  over  or  near 
the  chimney ;  and  one  more  in  a  looking-glass  sconce, 
on  a  pier  by  the  window. 

With  all  this  apparatus,  the  company  separating  sat 
down ;  the  gentlemen  at  their  table,  and  the  ladies  at 
theirs,  to  play  as  above;  when,  after  some  time, 
the  gentleman  of  the  house  said  hastily  to  a  servant, 

"  What  a  p ails  the  candles?'1  and  turning  to  the 

servant,  raps  out  an  oath  or  two,  and  bids  him  snuff 
the  candles,  for  they  burnt  as  if  the  Devil  was  in  the 
room. 

The  fellow,  going  to  snuff  one  of  the  candles,  snuffs 
it  out ;  at  which,  his  master  being  in  a  passion,  the 
fellow  lights  it  again  immediately  at  the  other  candle; 
and  then,  being  in  a  little  hurry,  going  to  snuff  the 
other  candle,  snuffed  that  out  too. 

The  first  candle  that  was  relighted  (as  is  usual  in 
such  cases)  burned  dim  and  dull  for  a  good  while ;  and, 
the  other  being  out,  the  room  was  much  darker  than 
before ;  and  a  wench  that  stood  by  the  ladies'  table, 
bawls  out  to  her  mistress,  "  Law,  madam  !  the  candles 
burn  blue!"  An  old  lady  that  sat  by  says,  "Ay, 
Betty,  so  they  do."  Upon  this,  one  of  the  ladies  starts 
up;  "Mercy  upon  us  !"  said  she,  "  what  is  the  mat- 
ter?" In  this  unlucky  moment  another  servant,  with- 
out orders,  went  to  the  great  pier-sconce  ;  and  because, 
as  he  thought,  he  would  be  sure  to  snuff  the  candle 
well,  he  offers  to  take  it  down,  but  very  unhappily,  I 
say,  the  hook  came  out,  down  falls  the  sconce,  candle 
and  all ;  and  the  looking-glass  broke  all  to  pieces,  with 
an  horrible  noise;  however  the  candle  falling  out  of 
the  sconce  did  not  go  out,  but  lay  on  the  floor  burning 
dully,  and  as  it  is  usual  on  such  cases,  all  on  one  side. 
Betty  cries  out  again,  "Law,  madam,  that  candle 
burns  blue  too;"  the  very  moment  she  said  this,  the 
footman  that  had  thrown  down  the  sconce,  says  to  his 
fellow-servant,  that  came  to  his  assistance,  "I  think 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  265 

the  Devil  is  in  the  candles  to-night;"  and  away  he 
ran  out  of  the  room,  for  fear  of  his  master. 

The  old  lady,  who,  upon  the  maid  Betty's  notion 
of  the  candles  burning  blue,  had  her  head  just  full  of 
that  old  chimney-corner  story,  "  the  candles  burn  blue 
when  the  spirits  are  in  the  room,"  heard  the  footman 
say  the  word  Devil,  but  heard  nothing  else  of  what  he 
said ;  upon  this,  she  rises  up  in  a  terrible  fright,  and 
cries  out,  that  the  footman  said  the  Devil  was  in  the 
room.  As  she  was,  indeed,  frighted  out  of  her  wits, 
she  frighted  the  ladies  most  terribly;  and  they  all 
starting  up  together,  down  goes  the  card-table,  and 
put  the  wax  candles  out. 

Mrs.  Betty,  that  had  frighted  them  all,  runs  to  the 
sconce  next  the  chimney  ;  but  that  having  a  long 
snuff,  she  cried  out  it  burnt  blue  too,  and  she  durst  not 
touch  it ;  in  short,  though  there  were  three  candles 
left  still  burning  in.  the  room,  yet  the  ladies  were  all 
so  frighted,  that  they  and  the  maids  too  ran  out  of  the 
parlor,  screaming  like  mad  folks.  The  master,  in  a 
rage,  kicked  his  first  man  out  of  the  room;  and  the 
second  man  was  run  out  to  avoid,  as  I  said  before,  the 
like :  so  that  no  servant  was  to  be  had,  but  all  was  in 
confusion. 

The  two  other  gentlemen,  who  were  sitting  at  the 
first  table,  kept  their  seats,  composed  and  easy  enough, 
only  concerned  to  see  all  the  house  in  such  a  fright ; 
it  was  true,  they  said,  the  candles  burnt  dim  and  very 
oddly;  but  they  could  not  perceive  they  burnt  blue, 
except  one  of  those  over  the  chimney,  and  that  on  the 
table,  which  was  relighted  after  the  fellow  had  snuffed 
it  out. 

However,  the  rnaid,  the  old  lady,  and  the  footman 
that  pulled  down  the  sconce,  all  insist  that  the  candles 
burnt  blue :  and  all  pretend  that  the  Devil  was  cer- 
tainly in  the  room,  and  was  the  occasion  of  it ;  and 
they  now  come  to  me  with  the  story,  to  desire  my 
opinion  of  it. 

This  put  me  upon  inquiry  into  the  notion  of  can- 
dles burning  blue  when  spirits  are  in  a  room ;  which, 
upon  all  the  search  into  things,  that  I  am  able  to  make, 
amounts  to  no  more  than  this ;  that  upon  any  extraor- 
dinary emission  of  sulphureous,  or  of  nitrous  particles, 
23 


266  THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

either  in  a  close  room,  or  in  any  not  very  open  place, 
if  the  quantity  be  great,  a  candle  or  lamp,  or  any  such 
little  blaze  of  fire,  will  seem  to  be,  or  to  barn  blue ;  and 
if  then  they  can  prove,  that  any  such  effluvia  attend 
or  are  emitted  from  a  spirit,  then  when  Satan  is  at 
hand,  it  may  be  so. 

But  then  it  is  begging  the  question  grossly,  because 
no  man  can  assure  us,  that  the  Devil  has  any  sul- 
phureous particles  about  him. 

It  is  true,  the  candles  burn  thus  in  mines  and  vaults, 
and  damp  places ;  and  it  is  as  true,  that  they  will  do 
so  upon  occasion  of  very  damp,  stormy  and  moist  air, 
when  an  extraordinary  quantity  of  vapors  are  sup- 
posed to  be  dispersed  abroad,  as  was  the  case  when 
this  happened;  and  if  there  was  anything  of  that  in  it 
on  that  Monday  night,  the  candles  might,  perhaps, 
burn  blue  upon  that  occasion ;  but  that  the  Devil  was 
abroad  upon  any  extraordinary  business  that  night, 
that  I  cannot  grant,  unless  I  have  some  better  testi- 
mony than  the  old  lady  that  heard  the  footman's  out- 
cry but  by  halves,  or  than  Mrs.  Betty,  who  first  fan- 
cied the  candles  burnt  blue ;  so  I  must  suspend  my 
judgment  till  I  hear  farther. 

This  story,  however,  may  solve  a  great  many  of 
those  things  which  pass  for  apparitions  in  the  world, 
and  which  are  laid  to  the  Devil's  charge,  though  he 
really  may  know  nothing  of  the  matter;  and  this 
would  bring  me  to  defend  Satan  in  many  things, 
wherein  he  may  truly  be  said  to  suffer  wrongfully ; 
and  if  I  thought  it  would  oblige  him,  I  might  say 
something  to  his  advantage  this  way;  however,  I  will 
venture  a  word  or  two  for  an  injured  devil,  take  it  as 
yon  will. 

First,  it  is  certain,  that  as  this  invisibility  of  the 
Devil  is  very  much  to  our  prejudice,  so  the  doctrine 
of  his  visibility  is  a  great  prejudice  to  him,  as  we 
make  use  of  it. 

By  his  invisibility  he  is  certainly  vested  with  infinite 
advantages  against  us:  while  he  can  be  present  with 
us.  and  we  know  nothing  of  the  matter,  he  informs 
himself  of  all  our  measures,  and  arms  himself  in  the 
best  and  most  suitable  manner  to  injure  and  assault 
us,  as  he  can  counteract  all  our  secret  concerted 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  267 

designs,  disappoint  all  our  schemes,  and,  except  when 
Heaven  apparently  concerns  itself  to  overrule  him,  can 
defeat  all  our  enterprises,  break  all  our  measures,  and 
do  us  mischief  in  almost  every  part  of  our  life ;  and  all 
this,  because  we  are  not  privy  to  all  his  motions,  as  he 
is  to  ours. 

But  now  for  his  visibility  and  his  real  appearance 
in  the  world,  and  particularly  among  his  disciples  and 
emissaries,  such  as  witches  and  wizards,  demoniacs, 
and  the  like ;  here,  I  think  Satan  has  a  great  deal  of 
loss,  suffers  manifest  injury,  and  has  great  injustice 
done  him ;  and  that  therefore  I  ought  to  clear  this 
matter  up  a  little,  if  it  be  possible,  to  do  justice  to 
Satan,  and  set  matters  right  in  the  world  about  him, 
according  to  that  useful  old  maxim,  of  setting  the 
saddle  upon  the  right  horse,  or  giving  the  Devil  his 
due. 

First,  as  I  have  said,  we  are  not  to  believe  every 
idle  head,  who  pretends  even  to  converse  face  to  face 
with  the  Devil ;  and  who  tell  us  they  have  thus  seen 
him,  and  been  acquainted  with  him  every  day.  Many 
of  these  pretenders  are  manifest  cheats ;  and,  however 
they  would  have  the  honor  of  a  private  interest  in 
him,  and  boast  how  they  have  him  at  their  beck ;  can 
call  him  this  way,  and  send  him  that,  as  they  please ; 
raise  him,  and  lay  him,  when,  and  how,  and  as  often 
as  they  find  for  their  purpose ;  I  say,  whatever  boasts 
they  make  of  this  kind,  they  really  have  nothing  of 
truth  in  them. 

Now  the  injuries  and  injustice  done  to  the  Devil,  in 
these  cases,  are  manifest;  namely,  that  they  entitle  the 
Devil  to  all  the  mischief  they  are  pleased  to  do  in  the 
world ;  and  if  they  commit  a  murder  or  a  robbery,  fire 
an  house,  or  do  any  act  of  violence  in  the  world,  they 
presently  are  said  to  do  it  by  the  agency  of  the  Devil, 
and  the  Devil  helps  them ;  so  Satan  bears  the  reproach, 
and  they  have  all  the  guilt,  This  is,  1,  A  grand 
cheat  upon  the  world;  and,  2,  A  notorious  slander 
upon  the  Devil ;  and  it  would  be  a  public  benefit  to 
mankind,  to  have  such  would-be-devils  as  these  turned 
inside  out,  that  we  might  know  when  the  Devil  was 
really  at  work  among  us,  and  when  not;  what  mis- 
chiefs were  of  his  doing,  and  which  were  not;  and 


268  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

that  these  fellows  might  not  slip  their  necks  out  of  the 
halter,  by  continually  laying  the  blame  of  their  wick- 
edness upon  the  Devil. 

Not  that  the  Devil  is  not  very  willing  to  have  his 
hand  in  any  mischief,  or  in  all  the  mischief  that  is 
done  in  the  world  ;  but  there  are  some  low-priced 
rogueries  that  are  too  little  for  him,  beneath  the  dig- 
nity of  his  operation,  and  which  it  is  really  a  scandal 
to  the  Devil  to  charge  upon  him.  I  remember  the 
Devil  had  such  a  cheat  put  upon  him  in  East  Smith- 
field  once,  where  a  person  pretended  to  converse  with 
the  Devil  face  to  face,  and  that  in  open  day  too,  and 
to  cause  him  to  tell  fortunes,  foretell  good  and  evil,  &c. ; 
discover  stolen  goods  ;  tell  where  they  were  who  stole 
them,  and  how  to  find  them  again ;  nay,  and  even  to 
find  out  the  thieves.  But  Satan  was  really  slandered 
in  the  case ;  the  fellow  had  no  more  to  do  with  the 
Devil  than  other  people,  and,  perhaps,  not  so  much 
neither.  This  was  one  of  those  they  called  cunning 
men,  or  at  least  he  endeavored  to  pass  for  such  an 
one ;  but  it  was  all  a  cheat. 

Besides,  what  had  the  Devil  to  do  to  detect  thieves, 
and  restore  stolen  goods?  Thieving  and  robbing, 
trick  and  cheat,  are  part  of  the  craft  of  his  agency,  and 
of  the  employments  which  it  is  his  business  to  encour- 
age. They  greatly  mistake  him,  who  think  he  will 
assist  anybody  in  suppressing  and  detecting  such  laud- 
able arts,  and  such  diligent  servants. 

I  wont  say,  but  the  Devil,  to  draw  these  people  we 
call  cunning  men,  into  a  snare,  and  to  push  on  his  far- 
ther designs,  may  encourage  them  privately,  and  in  a 
manner  that  they  themselves  know  nothing  of,  to 
make  use  of  his  name,  and  abuse  the  world  about 
him,  till  at  last  they  may  really  believe  they  do  deal 
with  the  Devil,  when,  indeed,  it  is  only  he  deals  with 
them,  and  they  know  nothing  of  the  matter. 

In  other  cases,  he  may  encourage  them  in  these  little 
frauds  and  cheats,  and  give  them  leave,  as  above,  to 
make  use  of  his  name,  to  bring  them  afterwards,  and 
by  degrees,  to  have  a  real  acquaintance  with  him  ; 
so  bringing  the  jest  of  their  trade  into  earnest,  till 
at  length,  prompting  them  to  commit  some  great  vil- 
lany,  he  secures  them  to  be  his  own,  by  their  very 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  269 

fear  of  his  leaving  them  to  be  exposed  to  the  world ; 
thus  he  puts  a  Jonathan  Wild  upon  them,  a'nd  makes 
them  be  the  very  wretches  they  only  pretended  to  be 
before.  So  old  Parsons,  of  Clithroe,  as  fame  tells,  was 
twenty-five  years  a  cunning  man,  and  twenty-two 
years  a  witch  ;  that  is  to  say,  for  five-and-twenty 
years,  he  was  only  pretending  to  deal  with  the  Devil, 
when  Satan  and  he  had  no  manner  of  acquaintance, 
and  he  only  put  his  legerdemain  upon  the  people  in 
the  Devil's  name,  without  his  leave;  but,  at  length, 
the  Devil's  patience  being  tired  quite  out,  he  told  the 
old  counterfeit,  that,  in  short,  he  had  been  his  stalking- 
horse  long  enough  :  and  that  now,  if  he  thought  fit  to 
enter  himself,  and  take  a  commission,  well  and  good ; 
and  he  should  have  a  lease  to  carry  on  his  trade  for  so 
many  years  more,  to  his  heart's  content ;  but  if  not,  he 
would  expose  his  knavery  to  the  world,  for  that  he 
should  take  away  his  people's  trade  no  longer;  but 
that  he  (Satan)  would  set  up  another  in  his  room, 
that  should  make  a  mere  fool  of  him,  and  carry  away 
all  his  customers. 

Upon  this,  the  old  man  considered  of  it,  took  the 
Devil's  counsel,  and  listed  in  his  pay  ;  so  he,  that  had 
played  his  pranks  twenty-five  years  as  a  conjurer,  when 
he  was  no  conjurer,  was  then  forced  really  to  deal  with 
the  Devil,  for  fear  the  people  should  know  he  did  not. 
Till  now,  he  had,  ambo  dexter,  cheated  the  Devil  on 
one  hand,  and  the  people  on  the  other;  but  the  Devil 
gained  his  point  at  last,  and  so  he  was  a  real  wizard 
ever  after. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  way  the  Devil  is  injured 
neither;  for  we  have  often  found  people  pretend  upon 
him  in  other  cases,  and  of  nearer  concern  to  him  a 
great  deal,  and  in  articles  more  weighty,  as,  in  partic- 
ular, in  the  great  business  of  possession.  It  is  true  this 
point  is  not  thoroughly  understood  among  men,  neither 
has  the  Devil  thought  fit  to  give  us  those  illuminations 
about  it,  as  I  believe  he  might  do  ;  particularly  that 
great  and  important  article  is  not,  for  aught  I  can  see, 
rightly  explained  ;  namely,  whether  there  are  not  two 
several  kinds  of  possession  ;  namely,  some  wherein  the 
Devil  possesses  us,  and  some  in  which  we  really  pos- 
sess the  Devil ;  the  nicety  of  which,  I  doubt,  this  age. 


270  THE  MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

with  all  its  penetration,  is  not  qualified  to  explain; 
and  a  dissertation  upon  it,  being  too  long  for  this  work, 
especially  so  near  its  conclusion,  I  am  obliged  to  omit, 
as  I  am  also  the  practical  discourses  upon  the  useful- 
ness and  advantages  of  real  possession,  whether  con- 
sidered one  way  or  other  to  mankind,  all  which  I  must 
leave  to  hereafter. 

But  to  come  back  to  the  point  in  hand,  and  to  con- 
sider the  injustice  done  to  the  Devil,  in  the  various 
turns  and  tricks  which  men  put  upon  him  very  often 
in  this  one  article;  namely,  pretending  to  possession, 
and  to  have  the  Devil  in  them,  when  really  it  is  not 
so ;  certainly  the  Devil  must  take  it  very  ill,  to  have 
all  their  demented,  lunatic  tricks  charged  upon  him : 
some  of  which,  nay,  most  of  which,  are  so  gross,  so 
simple,  so  empty,  and  so  little  to  the  purpose,  that  the 
Devil  must  be  ashamed  to  see  such  things  pass  in  his 
name,  or  that  the  world  should  think  he  was  concerned 
in  them. 

It  is  true,  that  possession  being  one  of  the  principal 
pieces  of  the  Devil's  artifice  in  his  managing  mankind, 
and  in  which,  with  the  most  exquisite  skill,  he  plays 
the  Devil  among  us,  he  has  the  more  reason  to  be 
affronted,  when  he  finds  himself  invaded  in  this  part, 
and  angry,  that  anybody  should  pretend  to  possess,  or 
be  possessed,  without  his  leave ;  and  this  may  be  the 
reason,  for  aught  we  know,  why  so  many  blunders 
have  been  made,  when  people  have  pretended  to  it 
without  him,  and  he  has  thought  fit  not  to  own  them 
in  it ;  of  which  we  have  many  examples  in  history, 
as  in  Simon  Magus,  the  Devil  of  London,  the  fair 
Maid  of  Kent,  and  several  others,  whose  history  it  is 
not  worth  while  to  enlarge  upon. 

In  short,  possessions,  as  I  have  said,  are  nice  things. 
As  it  is  not  so  easy  to  mimic  the  Devil  in  that  part,  as 
it  may  be  in  some  other;  designing  men  have  at- 
tempted it  often ;  but  their  manner  has  been  easily 
distinguished,  even  without  the  Devil's  assistance. 

Thus  the  people  of  Salem,  in  New  England,  pre- 
tended to  be  bewitched,  and  that  a  black  man  tor- 
mented them  by  the  instigation  of  such  and  such, 
whom  they  resolved  to  bring  to  the  gallows.  This 
black  man  they  would  have  to  be  the  Devil,  employed 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  271 

by  the  person  whom  they  accused  for  a  witch ;  thus 
making  the  Devil  a  page,  or  a  footman,  to  the  wizard, 
to  go  and  torment  whomever  the  said  wizard  com- 
manded, till  the  Devil  himself  was  so  weary  of  the 
foolish  part,  that  he  left  them  to  go  on  their  own  way ; 
and  at  last  they  overacted  the  murdering  part  so  far, 
that  when  they  confessed  themselves  to  be  witches, 
and  possessed,  and  that  they  had  correspondence  with 
the  Devil,  Satan  not  appearing  to  vouch  for  them,  no 
jury  would  condemn  them  upon  their  own  evidence, 
and  they  could  not  get  themselves  hanged,  whatever 
pains  they  took  to  bring  it  to  pass. 

Thus  you  see  the  Devil  may  be  wronged,  and  falsly 
accused,  in  many  particulars,  and  often  has  been  so ; 
there  are  likewise  some  other  sorts  of  counterfeit  devils 
in  the  world,  such  as  gypsies,  fortune-tellers,  foretellers 
of  good  and  bad  luck,  sellers  of  winds,  raisers  of 
storms,  and  many  more,  some  practised  among  us, 
some  in  foreign  parts,  too  many  almost  to  reckon  up ; 
nay,  I  almost  doubt,  whether  the  Devil  himself  knows 
all  the  sorts  of  them;  for  it  is  evident,  he  has  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  them,  I  mean  not  in  the  way  of 
their  craft. 

These  I  take  to  be  interlopers ;  or,  with  the  Guinea 
merchants'  leave,  separate  traders,  and  who  act  under 
the  screen  and  protection  of  Satan's  power,  but  with- 
out his  license  or  authority ;  no  doubt  these  carry 
away  a  great  deal  of  his  trade ;  that  is  to  say,  the  trade 
which  otherwise  the  Devil  might  have  carried  on  by 
agents  of  his  own.  I  cannot  but  say,  that  while  these 
people  would  fain  be  thought  devils,  though  they 
really  are  not,  it  is  but  just  they  should  be  really  made 
as  much  devils  as  they  pretended  to  be,  or  that  Satan 
should  do  himself  justice  upon  them,  as  he  threatened 
to  do  upon  old  Parsons,  of  Clithroe,  above  mentioned, 
and  let  the  world  know  them. 


272  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Of  divination,  sorcery,  the  black  art,  pa-wawing,  and 
such  like  pretenders  to  devilism ;  and  how  far  the 
Devil  is,  or  is  not,  concerned  in  them. 

THOUGH  I  am  writing  the  history  of  the  Devil,  I  have 
not  undertaken  to  do  the  like  of  all  the  kinds  of  people, 
male  or  female,  who  set  up  for  devils  in  the  world. 
This  would  be  a  task  for  the  Devil  indeed,  and  fit  only 
for  him  to  undertake ;  for  their  number  is,  and  has 
been,  prodigious  great ;  and  may,  with  his  other  legions, 
be  ranked  among  the  innumerable. 

What  a  world  do  we  inhabit !  where  there  is  not 
only  with  us  a  great  roaring-lion-devil  daily  seeking 
whom  of  us  he  may  devour,  and  innumerable  millions 
of  lesser  devils  hovering  in  the  whole  atmosphere  over 
us,  nay,  for  aught  we  know,  other  millions  always  in- 
visibly moving  about  us,  and  perhaps  in  us,  or  at  least 
in  many  of  us;  but  that  have,  besides  all  these,  a  vast 
many  counterfeit  hocus-pocus-devils;  human  devils, 
who  are  visible  among  us,  of  our  own  species  and  fra- 
ternity, conversing  with  us  upon  all  occasions;  who 
like  mountebanks  set  up  their  stages  in  every  town, 
chat  with  us  at  every  tea-table,  converse  with  us  in 
every  coffee-house,  and  impudently  tell  us  to  our  faces, 
that  they  are  devils,  boast  of  it,  and  use  a  thousand 
tricks  and  arts  to  make  us  believe  it  too,  and  that  too 
often  with  success. 

It  must  be  confessed  there  is  a  strong  propensity  in 
man's  nature,  especially  the  more  ignorant  part  of 
mankind,  to  resolve  every  strange  thing,  or  whether 
really  strange  or  no,  if  it  be  but  strange  to  us,  into 
devilism,  and  to  say  everything  is  the  Devil,  that  they 
can  give  no  account  of. 

Thus  the  famous  doctors  of  the  faculty  at  Paris, 
when  John  Faustus  brought  the  first  printed  books 
that  had  then  been  seen  in  the  world,  or  at  least  seen 
there,  into  the  city,  and  sold  them  for  manuscripts; 
they  were  surprised  at  the  performance,  and  questioned 


THE   MODERN    HISTOKY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  273 

Faustus  about  it ;  but  he  affirming  they  were  manu- 
scripts, and  that  he  kept  a  great  many  clerks  employed 
to  write  them,  they  were  satisfied  for  a  while. 

But  looking  farther  into  the  work,  they  observed  the 
exact  agreement  of  every  book,  one  with  another,  that 
every  line  stood  in  the  same  place,  every  page  a  like 
number  of  lines,  every  line  a  like  number  of  words ; 
if  a  word  was  misspelt  in  one,  it  was  misspelt  also  in 
all ;  nay,  that  if  there  was  a  blot  in  one,  it  was  alike 
in  all ;  they  began  again  to  muse,  how  this  should  be? 
In  a  word,  the  learned  divines,  not  being  able  to  com- 
prehend the  thing  (and  that  was  always  sufficient,) 
concluded  it  must  be  the  Devil ;  that  it  was  done  by 
magic  and  witchcraft ;  and  that,  in  short,  poor  Faus- 
tus (who  was  indeed  nothing  but  a  mere  printer)  dealt 
with  the  Devil. 

N.  B.  John  Faustus  was  servant,  or  journeyman, 
or  compositor,  or  what  you  please  to  call  it,  to  Koster, 
of  Harlem,  the  first  inventor  of  printing ;  and  having 
printed  the  psalter,  sold  them  at  Paris,  as  manuscripts ; 
because,  as  such,  they  yielded  a  better  price. 

But  the  learned  doctors,  not  being  able  to  under- 
stand how  the  work  was  performed,  concluded  as 
above,  it  was  all  the  Devil,  and  that  the  man  was  a 
witch ;  accordingly  they  took  him  up  for  a  magician, 
and  a  conjurer,  and  one  that  worked  by  the  black  art; 
that  is  to  say,  by  the  help  of  the  Devil ;  and,  in  a 
Avord,  they  threatened  to  hang  him  for  a  witch ;  and, 
in  order  to  it,  commenced  a  process  against  him  in 
their  criminal  courts,  which  made  such  a  noise  in  the 
world,  as  raised  the  fame  of  poor  John  Faustus  to  a 
frightful  height,  till  at  last  he  was  obliged,  for  fear  of 
the  gallows,  to  discover  the  whole  secret  to  them. 

N.  B.  This  is  the  true  original  of  the  famous  Dr. 
Faustus  or  Foster,  of  whom  we  have  believed  such 
strange  things,  as  that  it  is  become  a  proverb,  as  great 
as  the  Devil  and  Dr.  Foster.  Whereas  poor  Faustus 
was  no  doctor,  and  knew  no  more  of  the  Devil  than 
another  body. 

Thus  the  magistrates  of  Bern,  in  Switzerland,  find- 
ing a  gang  of  French  actors  of  puppet-show  opened 
their  stage  in  the  town,  upon  hearing  the  surprising 
accounts  which  the  people  gave  of  their  wonderful 


274  THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF   THE   DEVIL. 

puppets,  how  they  made  them  speak,  answer  ques- 
tions, and  discourse,  appear  and  disappear  in  a  mo- 
ment, pop  up  here,  as  if  they  rose  out  of  the  earth, 
and  down  there,  as  if  they  vanished,  and  abundance 
more  feats  of  art,  censured  them  as  demons ;  arid,  if 
they  had  not  packed  up  their  trinkets,  and  disappeared, 
almost  as  dexterously  as  their  puppets,  they  had  cer- 
tainly condemned  the  poor  puppets  to  the  flames  for 
Devils,  and  censured,  if  not  otherwise  punished,  their 
masters.  See  the  Count  de  Rochfort's  Memoirs,  p.  179. 

Wonderful  operations  astonish  the  mind,  especially 
where  the  head  is  not  overburdened  with  brains;  and 
custom  has  made  it  so  natural  to  give  the  Devil  either 
the  honor  or  scandal  of  everything,  that  we  cannot 
otherwise  account  for,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  put  the 
people  out  of  the  road  of  it. 

The  magicians  were,  in  the  Chaldean  monarchy, 
called  the  wise  men;  and  though  they  are  joined  with 
the  sorcerers  and  astrologers  in  the  same  place,  Dan. 
ii.  2,  yet  they  were  generally  so  understood  among 
those  people ;  but  in  our  language  we  understand  them 
to  be  people  that  have  an  art  to  reveal  secrets,  inter- 
pret dreams,  foretell  events,  &c.,  and  that  use  enchant- 
ments and  sorceries ;  by  all  which  we  understand  the 
same  thing;  which  now  in  a  more  vulgar  way  we  ex- 
press by  one  general  coarse  expression,  dealing  with 
the  Devil. 

The  scripture  speaks  of  a  spirit  of  divination,  Acts 
xvi.  16.  "and  a  wench  that  was  possessed  by  this 
spirit  brought  her  master  much  gain  by  soothsaying;" 
that  is  to  say,  according  to  the  learned,  by  oracling,  or 
answering  questions ;  whence  you  will  see  in  the  mar- 
gin, that  this  soothsaying  Devil  is  there  called  Python, 
that  is,  Apollo,  who  is  often  called  Python,  and  who 
at  the  oracle  of  Delphos  gave  out  such  answers,  and 
double  entendres,  as  this  wench  possibly  did  ;  and 
hence  all  those  spirits  which  were  called  spirits  of  divi- 
nation, were  in  another  sense  called  Pythons. 

Now  when  the  apostle  St.  Paul  came  to  see  this 
creature,  this  spirit  takes  upon  it  to  declare,  that 
those  men,  meaning  St.  Paul  and  Timotheus,  were  the 
servants  of  the  Most  High  God,  which  showed  unto 
them  the  way  of  salvation.  This  was  a  good  turn  of 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF   THE   DEVIL.  275 

the  Devil,  to  preserve  his  authority  in  the  possessed 
girl ;  she  brought  them  gain  by  soothsaying  ;  that  is 
to  sayyresolving  difficult  questions,  answering  doubts, 
interpreting  dreams,  &c.  Among  these  doubts,  he 
makes  her  give  testimony  to  Paul  and  Timotheus,  to 
wheedle  in  with  the  new  Christians,  and  perhaps, 
(though  very  ignorantly,)  even  with  Paul  and  Tirno- 
theus  themselves,  so  to  give  a  kind  of  credit  and  re- 
spect to  her  for  speaking. 

But  the  Devil,  who  never  speaks  truth,  but  with 
some  sinister  end,  was  discovered  here,  and  detected ; 
his  flattering  recognition  not  accepted,  and  he  himself 
unkennelled  as  he  deserved ;  there  the  Devil  was  over 
shot  in  his  own  bow  again. 

Here  now  was  a  real  possession,  and  the  evil  spirits 
who.  possessed  her,  did  stoop  to  sundry  little  acts  of 
servitude,  that  we  could  give  little  or  no  reason  for, 
only  that  the  girl's  master  might  get  money  by  her ; 
but  perhaps  this  was  a  particular  case,  and  prepared 
to  honor  the  authority  and  power  the  apostles  had  over 
evil  spirits. 

But  we  find  these  things  carried  a  great  way  farther 
in  many  cases ;  that  is  to  say,  where  the  parties  are 
thus  really  possessed ;  namely,  the  Devil  makes  agents 
of  the  possessed  parties  to  do  many  things  for  the  pro- 
pagating his  interest  and  kingdom,  and  particularly 
for  the  carrying  on  his  dominion  in  the  world.  But  I 
am  for  the  present  not  so  much  upon  the  real  posses- 
sion as  the  pretended ;  and  particularly  we  have  had 
many  that  have  believed  themselves  possessed,  when 
the  Devil  never  believed  it  of  them,  and  perhaps  knew 
them  better ;  some  of  these  are  really  poor  devils,  to 
be  pitied,  and  are  what  I  call  diables  imaginaires  ; 
these  have,  notwithstanding,  done  the  Devil  good  ser- 
vice, and  brought  their  masters  good  gain  by  sooth- 
saying. 

We  find  possessions  acknowledged  in  scripture  to 
be  really  and  personally  the  Devil,  or  according  to  the 
text,  legions  of  devils  in  the  plural.  The  Devil,  or 
devils  rather,  which  possessed  the  man  among  the 
tombs,  is  positively  affirmed  to  be  the  Devil,  in  the 
scripture ;  all  the  evangelists  agree  in  calling  him  so, 
and  his  very  works  show  it ;  namely,  the  mischief  he 


276  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL, 

did,  as  well  to  the  poor  creature  among  the  tombs,  who 
was  made  so  fierce,  that  he  was  the  terror  of  all  the 
country,  as  to  the  herd  of  swine,  and  to  the  country  in 
the  loss  of  them. 

I  might  preach  you  a  lecture  here  of  the  Devil's  ter- 
ror upon  the  approach  of  our  Saviour,  the  dread  of  his 
government,  and  how  he  acknowledged  that  there  was 
a  time  for  his  torment,  which  was  not  yet  come.  "  Art 
thou  come  to  torment  us  before  our  time?"  It  is  evi- 
dent the  devils  apprehended  that  Christ  would  chain 
them  up  before  the  day  of  judgment ;  and  therefore 
some  think  the  Devil  here,  being,  as  it  were,  caught 
out  of  his  due  bounds,  possessing  the  poor  man  in 
such  a  furious  manner,  was  afraid,  and  petitioned 
Christ  not  to  chain  him  up  for  it,  and  as  the  text  says, 
"  They  besought  him  to  suffer  them  to  go  away,"  &c. ; 
that  is  to  say,  when  they  say,  "Art  thou  come  to  tor- 
ment us  before  the  time  ?"  the  meaning  is,  they  begged 
he  would  not  cast  them  into  torment  before  the  time 
which  was  already  fixed;  but  that,  if  he  would  cast 
them  out  of  the  man,  he  would  let  them  go  away,  &c. 

The  evangelist  St.  Luke  says,  the  devils  besought 
him,  that  he  would  not  command  them  to  go  out  into 
the  deep.  Our  learned  annotators  think  that  part  is 
not  rightly  rendered  ;  adding,  that  they  do  not  believe 
the  Devil  fears  drowning;  but  with  submission,  I  be- 
lieve the  meaning  is,  that  they  would  not  be  confined 
to  the  vast  ocean,  where  no  inhabitants  being  to  be 
seen,  they  would  be  effectually  imprisoned  and  tied 
down  from  doing  mischief,  which  would  be  an  hell  to 
them;  as  to  their  going  into  the  swine,  that  might  af- 
ford us  some  allegory ;  but  I  am  not  disposed  to  jest 
with  the  scripture ;  no  nor  with  the  Devil  neither,  far- 
ther than  needs  must. 

It  is  evident  the  Devil  makes  use  of  very  mean  in- 
struments sometimes,  such  as  the  damsel  possessed 
with  a  spirit  of  divination,  and  several  others. 

I  remember  a  story,  how  true  I  know  not,  of  a  weak 
creature,  next  door  to  an  idiot,  who  was  established  in 
the  country  for  an  oracle,  and  would  tell  people  strange 
things  that  should  be,  long  before  they  came  to  pass ; 
when  people  were  sick,  would  tell  them  whether  they 
should  live  or  die;  if  people  were  married,  tell  how 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  277 

many  children  they  should  have;  and  an  hundred 
such  things  as  filled  the  people  with  admiration ;  and 
they  were  the  easier  brought  to  believe  that  the  girl 
was  possessed  ;  but  then  they  were  divided  about  her 
loo,  and  that  was  the  finest  spun  thread  the  Devil 
could  work,  for  he  carried  a  great  point  in  it ;  some 
said  she  had  a  good  spirit,  and  some  a  bad  ;  some 
said  she  was  a  prophetess,  and  some  that  she  was  the 
Devil. 

Now,  had  I  been  there  to  decide  the  question,  I 
should  certainly  have  given  it  for  the  latter;  if  it  were 
only  upon  this  account;  namely,  that  the  Devil  has 
often  found  fools  very  necessary  agents  for  the  propa- 
gating his  interest  and  kingdom,  but  we  never  knew 
the  good  spirits  do  so ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  does  not 
seem  likely  that  Heaven  should  deprive  a  poor  crea- 
ture of  its  senses,  and  as  it  were  take  her  soul  from 
her,  and  then  make  her  an  instrument  of  instruction 
to  others,  and  an  oracle  to  declare  its  decrees  by ;  this 
does  not  seem  to  be  rational. 

But  as  far  as  this  kind  of  divination  is  in  use  in  our 
days,  yet  I  do  not  find  room  to  charge  the  Devil  with 
making  any  great  use  of  fools,  unless  it  be  such  as  he 
has  particularly  qualified  for  his  work  ;  for  as  to  idiots 
and  naturals,  they  are  perfectly  useless  to  him ;  but  a 
sort  of  fools  called  the  Magi,  indeed  we  have  some 
reason  to  think  he  often  works  with. 

We  are  not  arrived  at  a  certainty  yet,  in  the  settling 
this  great  point;  namely,  what  magic  is  ?  whether  a 
diabolical  art,  or  a  branch  of  the  mathematics  ?  Our 
most  learned  Lexicon  Technicum  is  of  the  latter  opinion, 
and  gives  the  magic  square,  and  the  magic  lantern,  two 
terms  of  art. 

The  magic  square  is  when  numbers  in  arithmetical 
proportion  are  disposed  into  such  parallels,  or  equal 
ranks,  as  that  the  sums  of  each  row  as  well  diagonally 
as  laterally  shall  be  all  equal :  for  example,  2,  3,  4,  5, 
6,  7,  8,  9,  10.  Place  these  nine  in  a  square  of  three, 
they  will  directly  and  diagonally  make  18.  Thus, 

This  he  calls   the   magic  square,  but 
gives  no  reason  for  the  term,  nor  any  ac- 
count  of  what  infernal   operations   are 
wrought  by  this  concurrence  of  the  num- 
24 


5     10     3 

1      6~~8~ 


927 


278  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

bers  ;  neither  do  I  see  that  there  can  be  any  such  use 
made  of  it. 

The  magic  lantern  is  an  optic  machine,  by  the 
means  of  which  are  represented,  on  a  wall  in  the  dark, 
many  phantasms,  and  terrible  appearances,  but  no 
Devil  in  all  this;  only  that  they  are  taken  for  the 
effects  of  magic,  by  .those  that  are  not  acquainted  with 
the  secret, 

All  this  is  done  by  the  help  of  several  little  painted 
pieces  of  glass,  only  so  and  so  situated,  placed  in  cer- 
tain oppositions  to  one  another,  and  painted  with  dif- 
ferent figures,  the  most  formidable  being  placed  fore- 
most, and  such  as  are  most  capable  of  terrifying  the 
spectators ;  and  by  this  all  the  figures  may  be  repre- 
sented upon  the  opposite  wall,  in  the  largest  size. 

I  cannot  but  take  notice,  that  this  very  piece  of 
optic  delusion  seems  too  much  akin  to  the  mock  pos- 
sessions, and  infernal  accomplishments,  which  most 
of  the  possessionists  of  this  age  pretend  to,  so  that  they 
are  most  of  them  mere  phantasms  and  appearances, 
and  no  more.  Nor  is  the  spirit  of  divination,  the 
magic,  and  necromancing,  and  other  arts  which  were 
called  diabolical,  found  to  be  of  any  use  in  modern 
practice;  at  least,  in  these  parts  of  the  world  ;  but  the 
Devil  seems  to  do  most  of  his  work  himself,  and  by 
shorter  methods ;  for  he  has  so  complete  an  influence 
among  those  that  he  now  lists  into  his  service,  that  he 
brings  all  the  common  affairs  of  mankind  into  a  nar- 
rower compass  in  his  management,  with  a  dexterity 
peculiar  to  himself,  and  by  which  he  carries  on  his  in- 
terest silently  and  surely,  much  more  to  the  detriment 
of  virtue  and  good  government,  and  consequently 
much  more  to  his  satisfaction,  than  ever  he  did  before. 

There  is  a  kind  of  magic  or  sorcery,  or  what  else 
you  may  please  to  call  it,  which,  though  unknown  to 
us,  is  yet,  it  seems,  still  very  much  encouraged  by  the 
Devil ;  but  this  is  a  great  way  off,  and  in  countries 
where  the  politer  instruments,  which  he  finds  here,  are 
riot  to  be  had ;  namely,  among  the  Indians  of  North 
America.  This  is  called  pa-wawing,  and  they  have 
their  divines,  which  they  call  pa-waws^  or  witches, 
who  use  strange  gestures,  distortions,  horrid  smokes, 
burnings  and  scents,  and  several  such  things  which 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  279 

the  sorcerers  and  witches  in  ancient  times  are  said  to 
use  in  casting  nativities,  in  philtres,  and  in  determin- 
ing, or,  as  they  pretended,  directing,  the  fate  of  per- 
sons; by  burning  such  and  such  herbs  and  roots,  such 
as  hellebore,  wormwood,  storax,  devilwort,  man- 
drake, nightshade,  and  abundance  more  such,  which 
are  called  noxious  plants,  or  the  product  of  noxious 
plants,  also  melting  such  and  such  minerals,  gums, 
and  poisonous  things,  and  by  several  hellish  mutter- 
ings  and  markings  over  them;  the  like  do  these  pa- 
waws ;  and  the  Devil  is  pleased,  it  seems  (or  is  per- 
mitted,) to  fall  in  with  these  things,  and  as  some  peo- 
ple think,  appears  often  to  them  for  their  assistance 
upon  those  occasions. 

But  be  that  as  it  will,  he  is  eased  of  all  that  trouble 
here;  he  can pa-waw  here  himself,  without  their  aid; 
and.  having  laid  them  all  aside,  he  negotiates  much  of 
his  business  without  ambassadors  ;  he  is  his  own  plen- 
ipotentiary ;  for  he  finds  man  so  easy  to  come  at,  and 
so  easy  when  he  is  come  at,  that  he  stands  in  no 
need  of  secret  emissaries,  or  at  least  not  so  much  as  he 
used  to  do. 

Upon  the  whole,  as  the  world,  within  the  compass 
of  a  few  past  years,  is  advanced  in  all  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge and  arts,  and  every  useful  branch  of  what  they 
knew  before  improved,  and  innumerable  useful  parts 
of  knowledge,  which  were  concealed  before,  are  dis- 
covered ;  why  should  we  think  the  Devil  alone  should 
stand  at  a  stay,  has  taken  no  steps  to  his  farther  ac- 
complishment, and  made  no  useful  discoveries  in  his 
way  ?  That  he  alone  should  stand  at  a  stay,  and  be 
just  the  same  unimproved  devil  that  he  was  before? 
No,  no,  as  the  world  is  improved  every  day,  and  every 
age  is  grown  wiser  and  wiser  than  their  fathers ;  so, 
no  doubt,  he  has  bestirred  himself  too,  in  order  to  an 
increase  of  knowledge  and  discovery,  and  that  he  finds 
every  day  a  nearer  way  to  go  to  work  with  mankind 
than  he  had  before. 

Besides,  as  men  in  general  seem  to  have  altered 
their  manner,  and  that  they  move  in  an  higher  and 
more  exalted  sphere,  especially  as  to  vice  and  virtue ; 
so  the  Devil  may  have  been  obliged  to  change  his 
measures,  and  alter  his  way  of  working  ;  particularly. 


280  THE    MODERN    HISTOKY'  OF    THE    DEVIL. 

those  things  which  would  take  in  former  times,  and 
which  a  stupid  age  would  come  easily  into,  will  not  go 
down  with  us  now.  As  the  taste  of  vice  and  virtue 
alters,  the  Devil  is  forced  to  bait  his  hook  with  new 
compositions ;  the  very  thing  called  temptation  is  al- 
tered in  its  nature;  and  that  which  served  to  delude 
our  ancestors,  whose  gross  conceptions  of  things  caused 
them  to  be  manageable  with  less  art,  will  not  do  now ; 
the  case  is  quite  altered ;  in  some  things,  perhaps,  as  I 
hinted  above,  we  come  into  crime  with  ease,  and  may 
be  led  by  a  finger;  but  when  we  come  to  a  more  re- 
fined way  of  sinning,  which  our  ancestors  never  under- 
stood, other  and  more  refined  politics  must  be  made 
use  of;  and  the  Devil  has  been  put  upon  many  useful 
projects  and  inventions,  to  make  many  new  discoveries 
and  experiments  to  carry  on  his  affairs ;  and,  to  speak 
impartially,  he  is  strangely  improved,  either  in  knowl- 
edge or  experiment,  within  these  few  years ;  he  has 
found  out  a  great  many  new  inventions  to  shorten  his 
own  labor,  and  carry  on  his  business  in  the  world  cur- 
rently, which  he  never  was  master  of  before,  or  at 
least  we  never  knew  he  was. 

No  wonder  then  that  he  has  changed  hands  too,  and 
that  he  has  left  off  pa-wawing  in  these  parts  of  the 
world  ;  that  we  don't  find  our  houses  disturbed  as  they 
used  to  be,  and  the  stools  and  chairs  walking  about 
out  of  one  room  into  another,  as  formerly ;  that  chil- 
dren do  not  vomit  crooked  pins,  and  rusty  stub-nails, 
as  of  old  ;  the  air  is  not  full  of  noises,  nor  the  church- 
yard full  of  hobgoblins ;  ghosts  do  not  walk  about  in 
winding-sheets,  and  the  good  old  scolding  wives  visit 
and  plague  their  husbands  after  they  are  dead,  as  they 
did  when  they  were  alive. 

The  age  is  grown  too  wise  to  be  agitated  by  these 
dull  scare-crow  things  which  their  forefathers  were 
tickled  with ;  Satan  has  been  obliged  to  lay  by  his 
puppet-shows,  and  his  tumblers;  those  things  are 
grown  stale ;  his  morrice-dancing  Devils,  his  mounte- 
banking and  quacking,  will  not  do  now ;  those  things, 
as  they  may  be  supposed  to  be  very  troublesome  to 
him  (and  but  that  he  has  servants  enough  would  be 
chargeable  too,)  are  now  of  no  great  use  in  the  new 
management  of  his  affairs. 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  281 

In  a  word,  men  are  too  much  devils  themselves,  in 
the  sense  that  I  have  called  them  so,  to  be  frighted 
with  such  little,  low-priced  appearances  as  these ;  they 
are  better  acquainted  with  the  old  archangel  than  so, 
and  they  seem  to  tell  him  they  must  be  treated  after 
another  manner,  and  that  then,  as  they  are  good- 
natured  and  tractable,  he  may  deal  with  them  on  bet- 
ter terms. 

Hence  the  Devil  goes  to  work  with  mankind  a  much 
shorter  way ;  for,  instead  of  the  art  of  wheedling  and 
whining,  together  with  the  laborious  part  of  tricking 
and  sharping,  hurrying  and  driving,  frighting  and  ter- 
rifying, all  which  the  Devil  was  put  to  the  trouble 
of  before;  in  short,  he  acts  the  Grand  Manner,  as 
the  architects  call  it  (I  don't  know  whether  our  Free- 
masons may  understand  the  word  ;  and  therefore  I 
may  hereafter  explain  it.  as  it  is  to  be  diabolically  as 
well  as  mathematically  understood.) 

At  present  my  meaning  is,  he  acts  with  them  imme- 
diately and  personally  by  a  magnificent  transformation, 
making  them  mere  devils  to  themselves,  upon  all  need- 
ful occasions,  and  devils  to  one  another  too,  whenever 
he  (Satan)  has  need  of  their  service. 

This  way  of  embarking  mankind  in  the  Devil's  par- 
ticular engagement,  is  really  very  modern  ;  and  though 
the  Devil  himself  may  have  been  long  acquainted  with 
the  method,  and  as  I  have  heard,  began  to  practise  it 
towards  the  close  of  the  Roman  empire,  when  men  be- 
gan to  act  upon  very  polite  principles,  and  were  capa- 
ble of  the  most  refined  wickedness,  and  afterwards 
with  some  popes,  who  likewise  were  a  kind  of  church 
devils,  such  as  Satan  himself  could  hardly  expect  to 
find  in  the  world;  yet  I  do  not  find  that  he  was  ever 
able  to  bring  it  into  practice,  at  least  so  universally  as 
he  does  now.  But  now  the  case  is  altered,  and,  men 
being  generally  more  expert  in  wickedness  than  they 
were  formerly,  they  suffer  the  smaller  alteration  of  the 
species,  in  being  transmigrated;  in  a  word,  they  turn 
into  devils,  with  no  trouble  at  all  hardly,  either  to  the 
Devil,  or  to  themselves. 

How  many  mad  fellows  appear  among  us  everyday 
in  the  critical  juncture  of  their  transmigration,  just 
when  they  have  so  much  of  the  man  left  as  to  be 
24*  * 


282  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

known  by  their  names,  and  enough  of  the  Devil  taken 
up  to  settle  their  characters !  This  easiness  of  the 
Devil's  access  to  these  people,  and  the  great  conve- 
nience it  is  to  him  in  his  general  business,  is  a  proof  to 
me  that  he  has  no  more  occasion  for  diviners,  magi- 
cians, sorcerers,  and  whatever  else  we  please  to  call 
those  people  who  were  formerly  so  great  with  him ;  for 
what  occasion  has  he  to  employ  devils  and  wizards  to 
confound  mankind,  when  he  is  arrived  to  such  a  per- 
fection of  art  as  to  bring  men  at  least  in  these  parts 
of  the  world,  to  do  it  all  themselves?  Upon  this  ac- 
count we  do  not  find  any  of  the  old  sorcerers  and  di- 
viners, magicians  or  witches,  appear  among  us;  not 
that  the  Devil  might  not  be  as  well  able  to  employ 
such  people  as  formerly,  and  qualify  them  for  the  em- 
ployment too,  but  that  really  there  is  no  need  of  them 
hereabout,  the  Devil  having  a  shorter  way,  and  man- 
kind being  much  more  easily  possessed ;  not  the  old 
herd  of  swine  were  sooner  agitated,  though  there  were 
full  two  thousand  of  them  together ;  nature  has  opened 
the  door,  and  the  Devil  has  egress  and  regress  at  plea- 
sure, so  that  the  witches  and  diviners  are  quite  out  of 
the  question. 

Nor  let  any  man  be  alarmed  at  this  alteration  in  the 
case,  as  it  stands  between  mankind  and  the  Devil,  and 
think  the  Devil,  having  gained  so  much  ground,  may 
in  time,  by  encroachment,  come  to  a  general  posses- 
sion of  the  whole  race,  and  so  we  should  all  come  to 
be  devils  incarnate ;  I  say,  let  us  not  be  alarmed ;  for 
Satan  does  not  get  these  advantages  by  encroachment, 
and  by  his  infernal  power  or  art ;  no,  not  at  all ;  but  it 
is  the  man  himself  does  it,  by  his  indolence  and  negli- 
gence on  one  hand,  and  his  complaisance  to  the  Devil 
on  the  other;  and  both  ways  he,  as  it  were,  opens  the 
door  to  him,  beckons  him  with  his  very  hand  to  come 
in,  and  the  Devil  has  nothing  to  do  but  enter  and  take 
possession.  Now,  if  it  be  so,  and  man  is  so  frank  to 
him ;  you  know  the  Devil  is  no  fool,  not  to  take  the 
advantage  when  it  is  offered  him ;  and  therefore  it  is 
no  wonder  if  the  consequences  which  I  have  been  just 
now  naming  follow. 

But  let  no  man  be  discouraged  by  this,  from  re- 
assuming  his  natural  and  religious  powers,  and  ven- 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL.  283 

turing  to  shut  the  Devil  out ;  for  the  case  is  plain,  he 
may  be  shut  out ;  the  soul  is  a  strong  castle,  and  has 
a  good  garrison  placed  within,  to  defend  it ;  if  the  gar- 
rison behave  well,  and  do  their  duty,  it  is  impregna- 
ble, and  the  cowardly  Devil  must  raise  his  siege  and 
begone ;  nay,  he  must  fly,  or,  as  we  call  it,  make  his 
escape,  lest  he  be  laid  by  the  heels ;  that  is,  lest  his 
weakness  be  exposed,  and  all  his  lurking,  lying-in-wait, 
ambuscade  tricks.  This  part  would  bear  a  great  en- 
largement ;  but  I  have  not  room  to  be  witty  upon  him ; 
so  you  must  take  it  in  the  gross,  the  Devil  lies  at  Blye 
Bush,  as  our  country  people  call  it,  to  watch  your 
coming  out  of  your  hold;  and,  if  you  happen  to  go 
abroad  unarmed,  he  seizes  upon  and  masters  you  with 
ease. 

Unarmed  !  you  will  say  ;  what  arms  should  I  take  ? 
what  fence  against  a  flail  ?  What  weapons  can  a  man 
take  to  fight  the  Devil  ?  I  could  tell  you  what  to  fight 
him  with,  and  what  you  might  fright  him  with ;  for 
the  Devil  is  to  be  frighted  with  several  things  besides 
holy  water ;  but  it  is  too  serious  for  you,  and  you  will 
tell  me  I  am  a-preaching  and  a-canting,  and  the  like; 
so  I  must  let  the  Devil  manage  you,  rather  than  dis- 
please you  with  talking  scripture  and  religion. 

Well,  but  may  not  the  Devil  be  fought  with  some  of 
his  own  weapons'?  Is  there  no  dealing  with  him  in  a 
way  of  human  nature?  This  would  require  along 
answer,  and  some  philosophy  might  be  acted,  or  at 
least  imitated,  and  some  magic,  perhaps ;  for  they  tell 
us,  there  are  spells  to  draw  away  even  the  Devil  him- 
self; as  in  some  places  they  nail  horseshoes  upon  the 
threshold  of  the  door  to  keep  him  out ;  in  other  places 
old  pieces  of  flint,  with  so  many  holes,  and  so  many 
corners,  and  the  like.  But  I  must  answer  in  the  neg- 
ative; I  don't  know  what  Satan  might  be  scared  at  in 
those  days;  but  he  is  either  grown  cunninger  since,  or 
bolder;  for  he  values  none  of  those  things  now.  I 
question  much  whether  he  would  value  St.  Dunstan 
and  his  red-hot  tongs,  if  he  was  to  meet  him  now,  or 
St.  Francis,  or  any  of  the  saints,  no,  not  the  host  itself 
in  full  procession ;  and  therefore,  though  you  do  not 
care  I  should  preach,  yet,  in  short,  if  you  are  afraid  he 
should  charge  upon  you  and  attack  you,  if  you  will 


284  THE    MODERN   HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

not  make  use  of  the  scripture  weapons  I  should  have 
mentioned,  and  which  you  may  hear  of,  if  you  inquire 
at  Eph.  vi.  16,  you  must  look  for  better  where  you 
think  you  can  find  them. 

But  to  go  on  with  my  work,  the  Devil,  I  say,  is  not 
to  be  scared  with  maukins,  nor  does  he  employ  his  old 
instruments,  but  does  much  of  his  work  himself  with- 
out instruments. 

And  yet  I  must  enter  a  caveat  here  too  against  being 
misunderstood  in  my  saying  the  Devil  stands  in  no 
need  of  agents  ;  for  when  I  speak  so,  I  am  to  be  taken 
in  a  limited  sense ;  I  do  not  say  he  needs  them  no- 
where, but  only  that  he  does  not  need-  them  in  those 
polite  parts  of  the  world  which  I  have  been  speaking 
of,  and  perhaps  not  much  here;  but  in  many  remote 
countries  it  is  otherwise  still;  the  Indians  of  America 
are  particularly  said  to  have  witches  among  them,  as 
well  in  those  countries  where  the  Spaniards,  and  the 
English,  and  other  notions  have  planted  themselves, 
as  amongst  those  where  the  European  nations  seldom 
come;  for  example,  the  people  of  Canada  ;  that  is,  of 
the  countries  under  the  French  government  of  Quebec, 
the  Esquimaux,  and  other  northern  climates,  have  ma- 
gicians, wizards,  and  witches,  whom  they  call  Pilloatas, 
or  Pillotoas.  These  pretend  they  speak  intimately  and 
familiarly  with  the  Devil,  and  receive  from  him  the 
knowledge  of  things  to  come  ;  all  which,  by  the  way, 
I  take  to  be  little  more  than  this;  that  these  fellows, 
being  a  little  more  cunning  than  the  rest,  think  that, 
by  pretending  to  something  more  than  human,  they 
shall  make  the  stronger  impressions  on  the  ignorant 
people ;  as  Mahomet  amused  the  world  with  his  pigeon, 
vising  it  to  pick  peas  out  of  his  ear,  and  persuaded  the 
people  it  brought  him  superior  revelations  and  inspir- 
ations from  Paradise. 

Thus  these  Pillotoas,  gaining  an  opinion  among  the 
people,  behave  like  so  many  mountebanks  of  hell,  pre- 
tending to  understand  dark  things,  cure  diseases, 
practise  surgery,  physic,  arid  necromancy,  all  together. 
I  will  not  say,  but  Satan  may  pick  out  such  tools  to 
work  with,  and  I  believe  does  in  those  parts ;  but  I 
think  he  has  found  a  nearer  way  to  the  wood  with  us; 
and  that  is  sufficient  to  my  present  purpose. 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  285 

Some  would  persuade  me,  the  Pevil  had  a  great 
hand  in  the  late  religious  breaches  in  France,  among 
the  clergy;  namely,  about  the  Pope's  Constitution 
Unigenitus ;  and  that  he  made  a  fair  attempt  to  set 
the  Pope  and  the  Gallican  church  together  by  the 
ears ;  for  they  were  all  just  upon  the  point  of  breaking 
out  into  a  church- war,  that,  for  aught  we  knew, 
might  have  gone  farther  than  the  Devil  himself 
cared  it  should.  Now  I  am  of  the  quite  contrary 
opinion.  1  believe  the  Devil  really  did  not  make  the 
breach,  but  rather  heftled  it,  for  fear  it  should  have 
gone  so  far  among  them  as  to  have  set  them  all  in  a 
flame,  and  have  opened  the  door  to  the  return  of  the 
Hugonots  again,  which  it  was  in  a  fair  way  to  have 
done. 

I  might  anticipate  all  your  objections,  by  granting 
the  busy  Devil  is  at  this  time  employing  all  his  agents 
and  instruments  (for  I  never  told  you  they  were  idle 
and  useless)  in  striving  to  inflame  the  Christian  world, 
and  bring  a  new  war  to  overspread  Europe ;  I  might, 
perhaps,  point  out  to  you  some  of  the  measures  he 
takes,  the  provocatives  which  his  state-physicians 
administer  to  the  courts  and  counsellors  of  princes,  to 
foment  and  ferment  the  spirits  and  members  of  nations, 
kingdoms,  empires  and  states,  in  the  world,  in  order  to 
bring  these  glorious  ends  of  blood  and  war  to  pass ;  for 
you  cannot  think  but  he  that  knows  so  much  of  the 
Devil's  affairs,  as  to  write  his  history,  must  know 
something  of  all  these  matters  more  than  those  that  do 
not  know  so  much  as  he. 

But  all  this  is  remote  to  the  present  case ;  for  this  is 
no  impeachment  of  Satan's  new  methods  with  man- 
kind, in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  in  his  private  and 
separate  capacity ;  all  this  only  signifies,  that  in  his 
more  general  and  national  affairs,  the  Devil  acts  still 
by  his  old  methods ;  and  when  he  is  to  seduce  or  em- 
broil nations,  he,  like  other  conquerors,  subdues  them 
by  armies,  employs  mighty  squadrons  of  devils,  and 
sends  out  strong  detachments,  with  generals  and  gen- 
eralissimos to  lead  them,  some  to  one  part  of  the 
world,  some  to  another ;  some  to  influence  one  nation, 
some  to  manage  and  direct  another,  according  as 
business  presents,  and  his  occasions  require,  that  his 


286  THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL. 

affairs  may  be  carried  on  currently,  and  to  his  satis- 
faction. 

If  it  were  not  thus,  but  that  the  Devil  by  his  new 
and  exquisite  management,  of  which  I  have  said  so 
much,  had  brought  mankind  in  general  to  be  the  agents 
of  their  own  mischiefs,  and  that  the  world  were  so  at 
his  beck,  that  he  need  but  command  them  to  go  and 
fight,  declare  war,  raise  armies,  destroy  cities,  king- 
doms, countries,  and  people;  the  world  would  be  a 
field  of  blood  indeed,  and  all  things  would  run  into 
confusion  presently.  • 

But  this  is  not  the  case  at  all ;  Heaven  has  not  let 
go  the  government  of  the  creation  to  his  subdued 
enemy,  the  Devil;  that  would  overturn  the  whole  sys- 
tem of  God,  and  give  Satan  more  power,  than  ever  he 
was,  or  will  be  vested  with.  When,  therefore,  I  speak 
of  a  few  forward  wretches  in  our  day,  who  are  so  warm 
in  their  wickedness,  that  they  anticipate  the  Devil, 
save  him  the  trouble  to  tempt,  turn  devils  to  them- 
selves, and  gallop  hellward  faster  than  he  drives ;  I 
speak  of  them  as  single  persons,  and  acting  in  their 
own  personal  and  private  capacity;  but  when  I  speak 
of  nations  and  kingdoms,  there  the  Devil  is  obliged 
to  go  on  in  the  old  road,  and  act  by  stratagem,  by 
his  proper  machinery,  and  to  make  use  of  all  his  arts, 
and  all  his  agents,  just  as  he  has  done  in  all  ages, 
from  the  beginning  of  his  politic  government  to  this 
day. 

And  if  it  was  not  thus  too,  what  would  become  of 
all  his  numberless  legions,  of  which  all  ages  have 
heard  so  much,  and  all  parts  of  the  world  have  had  so 
much  fatal  experience  ?  Th^y  would  seem  to  be  quite 
out  of  employment,  and  be  rendered  useless  in  the 
world  of  spirits,  where  it  is  to  be  supposed  they  reside; 
not  the  Devil  himself  could  find  any  business  for 
them,  which,  by  the  way,  to  busy  and  mischievous 
spirits,  as  they  are,  would  be  an  hell  to  them,  even 
before  their  time ;  they  would  be,  as  it  were,  doomed 
to  a  state  of  inactivity,  which  we  may  suppose  was 
one  part  of  their  expulsion  from  blessedness,  and  the 
creation  of  man  ;  or  as  they  were  for  the  surprising 
interval  between  the  destruction  of  mankind  by  the 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY   OF    THE    DEVIL.  287 

deluge  and  Noah's  coming  out  of  the  ark,  when  indeed 
they  might  be  said  to  have  nothing  at  all  to  do. 

But  this  is  not  Satan's  case ;  and  therefore  let  me 
tell  you  too,  that  you  may  not  think  I  treat  the  case 
with  more  levity  than  I  really  do,  and  than  I  am  sure  I 
intend  to  do  ;  though  it  is  too  true,  that. our  modern  and 
modish  sinners  have  arrived  to  more  exquisite  ways  of 
being  wicked  than  their  fathers,  and  really  seem,  as  I 
have  said,  to  need  no  devil  to  tempt  them  ;  nay,  that 
they  do  Satan's  work  for  him  as  to  others  also,  and 
make  themselves  devils  to  their  neighbors,  tempting 
others  to  crime  even  faster  than  the  Devil  desires  them, 
running  before  they  are  sent,  and  going  the  Devil's 
errands  gratis;  by  wmch  means,  Satan's  work  is,  as 
to  them,  done  to  his  hand,  and  they  may  be  said  to 
save  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble;  yet  after  all,  the 
Devil  has  still  a  great  deal  of  business  upon  his  hands, 
and  as  well  himself,  as  all  his  legions,  find  themselves 
a  full  employment  in  disturbing  the  world,  and  oppos- 
ing the  glory  and  kingdom  of  their  great  Superior, 
whose  kingdom  it  is  their  whole  business,  however 
vain  in  its  end,  to  overthrow  and  destroy,  if  they  were 
able,  or  at  least  to  endeavor  it. 

This  being  the  case,  it  follows  of  course,  that  the 
general  mischiefs  of  mankind,  as  well  national  and 
public,  as  family  mischiefs,  and  even  personal  (except 
as  before  excepted,)  lie  all  still  at  the  Devil's  door,  as 
much  as  ever,  let  his  advocates  bring  him  off  it,  if 
they  can.  Arid  this  brings  us  back  again  to  the  man- 
ner of  the  Devil's  management,  and  the  way  of  his 
working  by  human  agents,  or.  if  you  will,  the  way  of 
human  devils  working  in  affairs  of  low  life,  such  as 
we  call  divination,  sorcery,  black  art,  necromancy,  and 
the  like ;  all  which  I  take  to  consist  of  two  material 
parts,  and  both  very  necessary  for  us  to  be  rightly  in- 
formed of. 

1.  The  part  which  Satan  by  himself,  or  his  inferior 
devils,  empowers  such  people  to  do,  as  he  is  in  con- 
federacy with  here  on  earth,  to  whom  he  may  be  said, 
like  the  master  of  an  opera  or  comedy,  to  give  their 
part  to  act,  and  to  qualify  them  to  act  it ;  whether  he 
obliges  them  to  a  rehearsal  in  his  presence,  to  try  their 


288  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

talents,  and  see  what  they  are  capable  of  performing, 
that  indeed  I  have  not  inquired  into. 

2.  That  part  which  these  empowered  people  da 
volunteer,  or  beyond  their  commission,  to  show  their 
diligence  in  the  service  of  their  new  master ;  and  either, 
1.  To  bring  grist  to  their  own  mill,  and  make  their 
market  of  their  employment  in  the  best  manner  they 
can;  or,  2.  To  gain  applause,  be  admired,  won- 
dered at,  and  applauded,  as  if  they  were  ten  times 
more  devils  than  really  they  are. 

In  a  word,  the  matter  consists  of  what  the  Devil 
does  by  the  help  of  those  people,  and  what  they  do  in 
his  name  without  him.  The  Devil  is  sometimes 
cheated  in  his  own  business.  There  are  pretenders  to 
witchcraft  and  black  art,  whom  Satan  never  made 
any  bargain  with,  but  whom  he  connives  at,  because 
at  least  they  do  his  cause  no  harm,  though  their 
business  is  rather  to  get  money,  than  to  render  him 
any  service ;  of  which  I  gave  you  a  remarkable  in- 
stance before. 

But  to  go  back  to  his  real  agents,  of  which  I  reckon 
two: 

1.  Those  who  act  by  direction  and  confederacy,  as 
I  have  said  already  many  do. 

2.  Those  whom  he  acts  in  and  by,  and  they  perhaps 
know  it  not ;  of  which  sort  history  gives  us  plenty  of 

examples,  from  Machiavel's  first  disciple to  the 

famous  Cardinal  Alberoni,   and  even    to  some  more 
modern  than  his  eminence,  of  whom  I  can  say  no  more 
till  farther  occasion  offers. 

1.  Those  who  act  by  immediate  direction  of  the 
Devil,  and  in  confederacy  with  him.  These  are  such 
as  I  mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  whose 
arts  are  truly  black,  because  really  infernal.  It  will 
be  very  hard  to  decide  the  dispute  between  those  who 
really  act  thus,  in  confederacy  with  the  Devil,  and 
those  who  only  pretend  to  it ;  so  I  shall  leave  that 
dispute  where  I  found  it.  But  that  there  are,  or  at 
least  have  been,  a  set  of  people  in  the  world,  who 
really  are  of  his  acquaintance,  and  very  intimate  with 
him;  and  though,  as  I  have  said,  he  has  much  altered 
his  schemes,  and  changed  hands,  of  late ;  yet  that 
there  are  such  people,  perhaps  of  all  sorts ;  and  that 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  289 

the  Devil  keeps  np  his  correspondence  with  them ;  I 
must  not  venture  to  deny  that  part,  lest  I  bring  upon 
me  the  whole  posse  of  the  conjuring  and  bewitching 
crew,  male  and  female,  and  they  should  mob  me  for 
pretending  to  deny  them  the  honor  of  dealing  with  the 
Devil,  which  they  are  so  exceeding  willing  to  have  the 
fame  of. 

Not  that  I  am  hereby  obliged  to  believe  all  the 
strange  things  the  witches  and  wizards,  who  have  been 
allowed  to  be  such,  nay,  who  have  been  hanged  for  it, 
have  said  of  themselves ;  nay,  that  they  have  con- 
fessed of  themselves,  even  at  the  gallows;  and  if  I 
come  to  have  an  occasion  to  speak  freely  of  the  mat- 
ter, I  may  perhaps  convince  you,  that  the  Devil's  pos- 
sessing power  is  much  lessened  of  late ;  and  that  he 
either  is  limited,  and  his  fetter  shortened  more  than  it 
has  been,  or  that  he  does  not  find  the  old  way,  as  I 
said  before,  so  fit  for  his  purpose  as  he  did  formerly, 
and  therefore  takes  other  measures.  But  I  must  ad- 
journ that  to  a  time  and  place  by  itself.  But  we  are 
told,  that  there  are  another  sort  of  people,  and,  perhaps, 
a  great  many  of  them  too,  in  whom,  and  by  whom, 
the  Devil  really  acts,  and  they  know  it  not. 

It  would  take  up  a  great  deal  of  time  and  room,  too 
much  for  this  place,  so  near  the  close  of  this  work,  to 
describe  and  mark  out  the  involuntary  devils  which 
there  are  in  the  world ;  of  whom  it  may  be  truly  said, 
that  really  the  Devil  is  in  them,  and  they  know  it  not. 
Now,  though  the  Devil  is  cunning  and  managing,  and 
can  be  very  silent,  where  he  finds  it  for  his  interest  not 
to  be  known ;  yet  it  is  very  hard  for  him  to  conceal 
himself,  and  to  give  so  little  disturbance  in  the  house, 
as  that  the  family  should  not  know  who  lodged  in  it. 
Yet,  I  say,  the  Devil  is  so  subtle  and  so  mischievous 
an  agent,  that  he  uses  all  manner  of  methods  and  craft, 
to  reside  in  such  people  as  he  finds  for  his  purpose, 
whether  they  will  or  no ;  and  which  is  more,  whether 
they  know  it  or  no. 

And  let  none  of  my  readers  be  angry,  or  think  them- 
selves ill  used,  when  I  tell  them,  the  Devil  may  be  in 
them,  and  may  act  them,  and  by  them,  and  they  not 
know  it ;  for  I  must  add,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  one  of 
the  greatest  pieces  of  human  wisdom  in  the  world,  for 
25 


290  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEVIL. 

a  man  to  know  when  the  Devil  is  in  him,  and  when 
not ;  when  he  is  a  tool  and  agent  of  hell,  and  when  he 
is  not;  in  a  word,  when  he  is  doing  the  Devil's  work, 
and  under  his  direction,  and  when  not. 

It  is  true,  this  is  a  very  weighty  point,  and  might 
deserve  to  be  handled  in  a  more  serious  way  than  I 
seem  to  be  talking  in  all  this  book.  But  give  me 
leave  to  talk  of  things  my  own  way ;  and  withal,  to 
tell  you  that  there  is  no  part  of  this  work  so  seemingly 
ludicrous,  but  a  grave  and  well-weighed  mind  may 
make  a  serious  and  solid  application  of  it,  if  they 
please ;  nor  is  there  any  part  of  this  work,  in  which  a 
clear  sight,  and  a  good  sense  may  not  see,  that  the 
author's  design  is,  that  they  should  do  so ;  and,  as 
I  am  now  so  near  the  end  of  my  book,  I  thought  it 
was  meet  to  tell  you  so,  and  lead  you  to  it  as  far  as 
I  can. 

I  say,  it  is  a  great  part  of  human  wisdom,  to  know 
when  the  Devil  is  acting  in  us  and  by  us,  and  when 
not ;  the  next,  and  still  greatest  part,  would  be,  to 
prevent  him,  put  a  stop  to  his  progress,  bid  him  go 
about  his  business,  and  let  him  know,  he  should  carry 
on  his  designs  no  farther  in  that  manner;  that  we  will 
be  his  tools  no  longer ;  in  short,  to  turn  him  out  of 
doors,  and  bring  a  stronger  power  to  take  possession. 
But  this,  indeed,  is  too  solid  a  subject,  and  too  great 
to  begin  with  here. 

But  now,  as  to  the  bare  knowing  when  he  is  at 
work  with  us,  I  say,  this,  though  it  is  considerable, 
may  be  done,  nor  is  it  so  difficult ;  for  example,  you 
have  no  more  to  do,  but  look  a  little  more  into  the 
microcosm  of  the  soul,  and  see  there,  how  the  passions 
which  are  the  blood,  and  the  affections,  which  are  the 
spirits,  move  in  their  particular  vessels;  how  they  cir- 
culate, and  in  what  temper  the  pulse  beats  there,  and 
you  may  easily  see  who  turns  the  wheel.  If  a  perfect 
calm  possesses  the  soul;  if  peace  and  temper  prevail, 
and  the  mind  feels  no  tempests  rising;  if  the  affections 
are  regular,  and  exalted  to  virtuous  and  sublime  ob- 
jects, the  spirits  cool,  and  the  mind  sedate  ;  the  man  is 
in  a  general  rectitude  of  mind ;  he  may  be  truly  said 
to  be  his  own  man ;  Heaven  shines  upon  his  soul  with 
Us  benign  influences,  and  he  is  out  of  the  reach  of  the 


THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL.  291 

evil  spirit ;  for  the  divine  spirit  is  an  influence  of  peace, 
all  calm  and  bright,  happy  and  sweet,  like  itself,  and 
tending  to  everything  that  is  good,  both  present  and 
future. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  at  any  time  the  mind  is 
ruffled  ;  if  vapors  rise,  clouds  gather ;  if  passions  swell 
the  breast ;  if  anger,  envy,  revenge,  hatred,  wrath,  strife, 
if  these,  or  any  of  these,  hover  over  you  ;  much  more, 
if  you  feel  them  within  you ;  if  the  affections  are  pos- 
sessed, and  the  soul  hurried  down  the  stream  to  em- 
brace low  and  base  objects ;  if  those  spirits,  which  are 
the  life  and  enlivening  powers  of  the  soul,  are  drawn 
off  to  parties,  and  to  be  engaged  in  a  vicious  and  cor- 
rupt manner,  shooting  out  wild  and  wicked  desires,  and 
running  the  man  headlong  into  crime;  the  case  is 
easily  resolved,  the  man  is  possessed,  the  Devil  is  in 
him ;  and,  having  taken  the  fort,  or  at  least  the  coun- 
terscarp and  out-works,  is  making  his  lodgment  to 
cover  and  secure  himself  in  his  hold,  that  he  may  not 
be  dispossessed. 

Nor  can  he  be  easily  dispossessed,  when  he  has  got 
such  hold  as  this;  and  it  is  no  wonder,  that  being 
lodged  thus  upon  the  out-works  of  the  soul,  he 
continues  to  sap  the  foundation  of  the  rest ;  and  by  his 
incessant  and  furious  assaults,  reduces  the  man  at  last 
to  a  surrender. 

If  the  allegory  be  not  as  just  and  apposite  as  you 
would  have  it  be,  you  may,  however,  see  by  it,  in  a 
full  view,  the  state  of  the  man,  and  how  the  Devil  car- 
ried on  his  designs.  Nothing  is  more  common,  and,  I 
believe,  there  are  few  thinking  minds  but  may  reflect 
upon  it  in  their  own  compass,  than  for  our  passions 
and  affections  to  flow  out  of  the  ordinary  channel ; 
the  spirits  and  blood  of  the  soul  to  be  extravasated,  the 
passions  grow  violent  and  outrageous,  the  affections 
impetuous,  corrupt,  and  violently  vicious.  Whence  does 
all  this  proceed?  From  Heaven  we  cannot  pretend  it 
comes ;  if  we  must  not  say  it  is  the  Devil,  whose  door 
must  it  lie  at?  Pride  swells  the  passions;  avarice 
moves  the  affections ;  and  what  is  pride,  and  what  is 
avarice,  but  the  Devil  in  the  inside  of  the  man  ?  ay,  as 
personally  and  really  as  ever  he  was  in  the  herd  of 
swine. 


292  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

Let  not  any  man  then,  who  is  a  slave  to  his  pas- 
sions, or  who  is  chained  down  to  his  covetousness, 
pretend  to  take  it  ill,  when  I  say,  he  has  the  Devil  in 
him,  or  that  he  is  a  devil.  What  else  can  it  be,  and 
how  comes  it  to  pass  that  passion  and  revenge  so  often 
dispossess  the  man  of  himself,  as  to  lead  him  to 
commit  murder,  to  lay  plots  and  snares  for  the  life  of 
his  enemies,  and  so  to  thirst  for  blood  ?  How  conies 
this,  but  by  the  Devil's  putting  those  spirits  of  the 
soul  into  so  violent  a  ferment,  into  a  fever,  that  the 
circulation  is  precipitated  to  that  degree,  and  that  the 
man  too  is  precipitated  into  mischief,  and  at  last  into 
ruin  ?  It  is  all  the  Devil,  though  the  man  does  not 
know  it. 

In  like  manner,  avarice  leads  him  to  rob,  plunder 
and  destroy,  for  money,  and  to  commit  sometimes  the 
worst  of  violences,  to  obtain  the  wicked  reward.  How 
many  have  had  their  throats  cut  for  their  money,  have 
been  murdered  on  the  highway,  or  in  their  beds,  for 
the  desire  of  what  they  had?  It  is  the  same  thing  in 
other  articles  ;  every  vice  is  the  Devil  in  a  man ;  lust 
of  rule  is  the  Devil  of  great  men ;  and  that  ambition  is 

their  devil,  as  much  as  w is  Father  's 

devil ;  one  has  a  devil  of  one  class  acting  him,  one 
another ;  and  every  man's  reigning  vice  is  a  devil  to 
him. 

Thus  the  Devil  has  his  involuntary  instruments,  as 
well  as  those  who  act  in  confederacy  with  him ;  he 
has  a  very  great  share  in  many  of  us,  and  acts  us, 
and  in  us,  unknown  to  ourselves,  though  we  know 
nothing  of  it,  and  indeed  though  we  may  not  suspect 
it  ourselves ;  like  Hazael  the  Assyrian,  who,  when  the 
prophet  told  him  how  he  would  act  the  Devil  upon 
the  poor  Israelites,  answered  with  detestation,  "Is  thy 
servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  thing?"  and  yet 
he  was  that  dog,  and  did  all  those  cruel  things  for  all 
that ;  the  Devil  acting  him,  or  acting  in  him,  to  make 
him  wickeder  than  ever  he  thought  it  was  possible  for 
him  to  be. 


THE   MODERN   HISTORY   OF  THE   DEVIL.  293 


THE    CONCLUSION. 

Of  the  Devil's  last  scene  of  liberty,  and  what  may  be 
supposed  to  be  his  end ;  with  what  we  are  to  under- 
stand of  his  being  tormented  for  ever  and  ever. 

As  the  Devil  is  a  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  his 
kingdom  is  mortal,  and  must  have  an  end;  and  as  he 
is  called  the  god  of  this  world,  that  is,  the  great 
usurper  of  the  homage  and  reverence  which  mankind 
ought  of  right  to  pay  to  their  Maker,  so  his  usurpation 
also,  like  the  world  itself,  must  have  an  end.  Satan 
is  called  the  god  of  the  world,  as  men  too  much  pros- 
trate and  prostitute  themselves  to  him;  yet  he  is  not 
the  governor  of  this  world ;  and  therefore  the  homage 
and  worship  he  has  from  the  world  is  an  usurpation ; 
and  this  will  have  an  end,  because  the  world  itself 
will  have  an  end ;  and  all  mankind,  as  they  had  a 
beginning  in  time,  so  must  expire,  and  be  removed, 
before  the  end  of  time. 

Since  then  the  Devil's  empire  is  to  expire,  and  come 
to  an  end ;  and  that  the  Devil  himself,  and  all  his  host 
of  devils,  are  immortal  seraphs,  spirits  that  are  not 
embodied,  and  cannot  die,  but  are  to  remain  in  being; 
the  question  before  us  next  will  be,  What  is  to  become 
of  him?  what  is  his  state  to  be?  whither  is  he  to 
wander  ?  and  in  what  condition  is  he  to  remain  to  that 
eternity  to  which  he  is  still  to  exist  ? 

I  hope  no  man  will  mistake  me  so  much  in  what  I 
have  said  as  to  spirits,  which  are  all  flame,  not  being 
affected  with  fire,  as  if  I  supposed  there  was  no  place 
of  punishment  for  -the  Devil,  nor  any  kind  of  punish- 
ment that  could  affect  them ;  and  so  of  our  spirits  also, 
when  transformed  into  flame. 

I  must  be  allowed  to  speak  there  of  that  material 
fire,  by  which,  as  by  an  allegory,  all  the  terrors  of  an 
eternal  state  are  represented  to  us  in  scripture,  and  in 
the  writings  of  the  learned  commentators,  and  by 
which  the  pain  of  sense  is  described.  This,  perhaps, 
25* 


294  THE    MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    DEVIL. 

I  do  not  understand  as  they  seem  to  do,  and  therefore 
have  said, 

When  we  are  all  flame,  (that  is,  all  spirit,)  we 
shall  all  fire  (that  is,  all  such  fire  as  this)  despise. 
And  thus  I  claim  to  be  understood. 

It  does  not  follow  from  hence,  neither  do  I  suggest, 
or  so  much  as  think,  that  infinite  power  cannot  form 
a  something  (though  inconceivable  to  us  here,)  which 
shall  be  as  tormenting,  and  as  insupportable,  to  a 
devil,  an  apostate  seraph,  and  to  a  spirit,  though 
exalted,  unembodied,  and  rarefied  into  flame,  as  fire 
would  be  to  other  bodies  ;  in  which  I  think  I  am 
orthodox,  and  do  not  give  the  least  occasion  to  an 
enemy  to  charge  me  with  profane  speaking,  in  those 
words,  or  to  plead  for  thinking  profanely  himself. 

It  must  be  atheistical  to  the  last  degree,  to  suggest, 
that  whereas  the  Devil  has  been  heaping  up  and 
amassing  guilt  ever  since  the  creation  of  man,  increas- 
ing in  hatred  of  God,  and  rebellion  against  him,  and 
in  all  possible  endeavor  to  dethrone  and  depose  the 
majesty  of  heaven  ;  that  yet  Heaven  had  not  prepared, 
or  could  not  prepare,  a  just  penalty  for  him;  and  that 
it  should  not  all  end  in  God's  entire  victory  over  hell, 
and  in  Satan's  open  condemnation.  Heaven  could  not 
be  just  to  its  own  glory,  if  he  should  not  avenge  him- 
self upon  this  rebel,  for  all  his  superlative  wickedness 
in. his  modern  as  well  as  ancient  station;  for  the  blood 
of  so  many  millions  of  his  faithful  subjects  and  saints 
whom  he  has  destroyed ;  and,  if  nothing  else  offered 
itself  to  prove  this  part,  it  would  appear  undoubted  to 
me.  But  this,  I  confess,  does  not  belong  to  Satan's 
history ;  and  therefore  I  have  reserved  it  to  this  place, 
and  shall  also  be  the  shorter  in  it. 

That  his  condition  is  to  be  a  state  of  punishment, 
and  that  by  torment,  the  Devil  himself  has  owned ; 
and  his  calling  out  to  our  blessed  Lord,  when  he  cast 
him  out  of  the  furious  man  among  the  tombs,  is  a 
proof  of  it;  "What  have  we  to  do  with  thee;"  and 
"Art  thou  come  to  torment  us  before  the  time?" 
(Luke  viii.  28,)  where  the  Devil  acknowledges  four 
things,  and  three  of  them  are  directly  to  my  present 
purpose;  and,  if  you  won't  believe  the  word  of  God,  I 


THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE   DEVIL.  295 

hope  you  will  believe  the  Devil,  especially  when  it  is 
an  open  confession  against  himself. 

1.  He  confessed  Christ  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  (that 
by  the  way,)  and  no  thanks  to  him ;  for  that  does  not 
want  the  Devil's  evidence. 

2.  He  acknowledges  he  may  be  tormented. 

3.  He   acknowledges  Christ  was   able  to   torment 
him. 

4.  He  acknowledges  that  there  is  a  time  appointed 
when  he  shall  be  tormented. 

As  to  how,  in  what  manner,  and  by  what  means, 
this  tormenting  the  Devil  is  to  be  performed  or  exe- 
cuted, that  I  take  to  be  as  needless  to  us,  as  it  is  im- 
possible, to  know;  and,  not  being  at  present  inclined 
to  fill  your  heads  and  thoughts  with  weak  and  imper- 
fect guesses,  I  leave  it  where  I  find  it. 

It  is  enough  to  us,  that  this  torment  of  the  Devil  is 
represented  to  us  by  fire;  it  being  impossible  for  our 
confined  thoughts  to  conceive  of  torment  by  anything 
in  the  world  more  exquisite.  Whence  I  conclude,  that 
devils  shall  at  last  receive  a  punishment  suitable  to 
their  spirituous  nature,  and  as  exquisitely  tormenting 
as  a  burning  fire  would  be  to  our  bodies. 

Having  thus  settled  my  own  belief  of  this  matter, 
and  stated  it  so,  as  I  think  will  let  you  see  it  is  rightly 
founded,  the  matter  stands  thus  : 

Satan,  having  been  let  loose  to  play  his  game  in  this 
world,  has  improved  his  time  to  the  utmost ;  he  has 
not  failed  on  all  occasions  to  exert  his  hatred,  rage 
and  malice,  at  his  conqueror  and  enemy,  namely,  his 
Maker ;  he  has  not  failed,  from  principles  of  mere  envy 
and  pride,  to  pursue  mankind  with  all  possible  rancor, 
in  order  to  deprive  him  of  the  honor  and  felicity  which 
he  was  created  for,  namely,  to  succeed  the  Devil  and 
his  angels  in  the  state  of  glory  from  which  they  fell. 

This  hatred  of  God,  and  envy  at  man,  having 
broken  out  in  so  many  several  ways  in  the  whole 
series  of  time  from  the  creation,  must  necessarily  have 
greatly  increased  his  guilt ;,and,  as  Heaven  is  righteous 
to  judge  him,  must  terminate  in  an  increase  of  punish- 
ment, adequate  to  his  crime,  and  sufficient  to  his 
nature. 

Some  have  suggested,  that  there  is  yet  a  time  to 


296  THE   MODERN    HISTORY    OF  THE    DEVIL. 

come,  when  the  Devil  shall  exert  more  rage  and  do 
more  mischief  than  ever  yet  he  has  been  permitted  to 
do.  Whether  he  shall  break  his  chain,  or  be  unchained 
for  a  time,  they  cannot  tell,  nor  I  either;  and  it  is 
happy  for  my  work,  that  even  this  part  too  does  not 
belong  to  his  history.  If  ever  it  shall  be  given  an 
account  of  by  mankind,  it  must  be  after  it  is  come  to 
pass  ;  for  my  part  is  not  prophecy  of  foretelling  what 
the  Devil  shall  do,  but  history  of  what  he  has  done. 

Thus,  good  people,  I  have  brought  the  history  of 
the  Devil  down  to  your  own  times ;  I  have,  as  it  were, 
raised  him  for  you,  and  set  him  in  your  view,  that 
you  may  know  him  and  have  a  care  of  him. 

If  any  curminger  men  among  you  think  they  are 
able  now  to  lay  him  again,  and  so  dispose  of  him  out 
of  your  sight,  that  you  shall  be  troubled  no  more  with 
him,  either  here  or  hereafter,  let  them  go  to  work  with 
him  their  own  way;  you  know  things  future  do  not 
belong  to  an  historian ;  so  I  leave  him  among  you, 
wishing  you  may  be  able  to  give  no  worse  an  account 
of  him  for  the  time  to  come,  than  I  have  done  for  the 
time  past. 


END. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA— BERKELEY 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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